With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 


THE    SHALE    BEGAN    SLIDING   UNDER   MY   FEET   (PAGE  51) 


With  the  Indians  in 
The  Rockies 


BY 


JAMES   WILLARD   SCHULTZ 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS    BY 
GEORGE   VARIAN 


iontjoa 
CONSTABLE  &  CO.    LIMITED 

BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 
1912 


COPYRIGHT,   1912,   BY  JAMES  WILLARD  SCHULTZ 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


THIS  BOOK  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 
TO  MY  WIFE 

CELIA  HAWKINS  SCHULTZ 

WHOSE  GOOD  COMRADESHIP  AND  SYMPATHY 

HAVE  BEEN  MY  GREATEST  HELP 

IN  WRITING  THE  TALE 


Preface 

WHEN  in  the  seventies  I  turned  my 
back  on  civilization  and  joined  the 
trappers  and  traders  of  the  North 
west,  Thomas  Fox  became  my  friend.  We 
were  together  in  the  Indian  camps  and  trad 
ing  posts  often  for  months  at  a  time ;  he  loved 
to  recount  his  adventures  in  still  earlier  days, 
and  thus  it  was  that  I  learned  the  facts  of  his 
life.  The  stories  that  he  told  by  the  even 
ing  camp-fire  and  before  the  comfortable 
fireplaces  of  our  various  posts,  on  long  winter 
days,  were  impressed  upon  my  memory,  but 
to  make  sure  of  them  I  frequently  took  notes 
of  the  more  important  points. 

As  time  passed,  I  realized  more  and  more 
how  unusual  and  interesting  his  adventures 
were,  and  I  urged  him  to  write  an  account  of 
them.  He  began  with  enthusiasm,  but  soon 
tired  of  the  unaccustomed  work.  Later,  how 
ever,  after  the  buffalo  had  been  exterminated 

vii 


Preface 

and  we  were  settled  on  a  cattle-ranch,  where 
the  life  was  of  a  deadly  monotony  compared 
with  that  which  we  had  led,  I  induced  him 
to  take  up  the  narrative  once  more.  Some 
parts  of  it  he  wrote  with  infinite  detail ; 
other  parts  consisted  only  of  dates  and  a  few 
sentences. 

He  was  destined  never  to  finish  the  task. 
An  old  bullet  wound  in  his  lung  had  always 
kept  him  in  poor  health,  and  when,  in  the 
winter  of  1885,  he  contracted  pneumonia, 
the  end  was  quick.  His  last  request  was 
that  I  would  put  his  notes  in  shape  for  pub 
lication.  This  I  have  done  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  in  my  own  old  age ;  how  well  I  have 
done  it  is  for  the  reader  to  judge. 

Brave,  honest  old  Ah-ta-to-yi  (The  Fox), 
as  the  Blackfeet  and  frontiers-men  loved  to 
call  him !  We  buried  him  on  a  high  bluff 
overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Two  Medicine 
River,  and  close  up  to  the  foothills  of  the 
Rockies,  the  "  backbone-of-the-world  "  that 
he  loved  so  well.  After  we  had  filled  in  the 

viii 


Preface 

grave  and  the  others  had  gone,  Pitamakan 
and  I  sat  by  the  new-made  mound  until  the 
setting  sun  and  the  increasing  cold  warned 
us  also  to  descend  into  the  valley.  The  old 
chief  was  crying  as  we  mounted  our  horses. 
"  Although  of  white  skin/'  he  faltered, 
"  the  man  who  lies  there  was  my  brother. 
I  doubt  not  that  I  shall  soon  meet  him  in 
the  Sand-hills." 

AH-PUN-I    LODGE, 
February,  1912. 


Illustrations 


THE    SHALE    BEGAN    SLIDING    UNDER    MY    FEET 

(page  51) Frontispiece 

IT   TOPPLED   OVER  WITH  A   CRASH   AND    LAY    STILL      14 

AGAIN  AND  AGAIN  IT  ROSE 76 

PlTAMAKAN   FIERCELY   STRIKING   A   BLOW       .      .      .128 

THE  AVALANCHE  BURST  INTO  THE  FLAT     .     .     .  200 
I  GRABBED  THEM  UP  AND  FOLLOWED  HIM   .     .     .  2IO 


Reproduced  from  drawings  by  George  Parian, 
by  permission  of  The  Youth's  Companion. 


With  the  Indians  in 
the  Rockies 


M 


CHAPTER   I 

Y  father  kept  a  little  firearm  shop 
in    St.   Louis.    Over   it   was   the 


sign:- 

DAVID  Fox  &  Co. 

Wholesale  &  Retail  Guns 

&  Ammunition. 

Fine  Rifles  &  Fowling  Pieces 

Made  To  Order. 

"  Co."  on  the  sign  stood  for  my  uncle, 
Wesley  Fox,  who  was  a  silent  partner  in  the 
business.  Longer  than  I  could  remember,  he 
had  been  an  employee  of  the  American  Fur 
Company  away  up  the  Missouri  River. 

It  was  a  great  event  in  the  quiet  life  of 
our  little  family  of  three  when  he  came,  as 

i 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

he  did  every  two  or  three  years,  to  pay  us 
a  short  visit.  He  no  sooner  set  foot  in  the 
house  than  my  mother  began  to  cook  bread, 
cakes,  puddings  and  pies.  I  have  seen  him 
make  what  he  called  a  delicious  breakfast  on 
nothing  but  buttered  toast  and  coffee.  That 
was  because  he  did  not  get  any  bread  where 
he  lived  except  on  Christmas  Day.  Every 
pound  of  freight  that  went  up  the  river 
above  Fort  Union  in  the  company's  keel- 
boats  and  bateaux  was  for  the  Indian  trade, 
and  there  was  no  room  for  such  luxuries  as 
flour. 

While  Uncle  Wesley  was  with  us,  mother 
always  let  me  put  away  my  books,  and  not 
say  any  lessons  to  her,  and  I  went  with  him 
everywhere  in  the  town.  That  is  what  St. 
Louis  was  in  those  days — just  a  good-sized 
town.  I  liked  best  to  go  with  him  to  the 
levee  and  see  the  trappers  and  traders  coming 
in,  their  bateaux  loaded  down  with  beaver 
and  other  fur  pelts.  Nearly  all  these  men 
wore  buckskin  clothes  and  moccasins,  and 

2 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

fur  caps  of  their  own  make.  They  all  had 
long  hair  and  big  whiskers  and  mustaches 
that  looked  as  if  they  had  been  trimmed 
with  a  butcher-knife. 

Every  time  my  Uncle  Wesley  came  out 
of  the  Far  West  he  brought  me  a  bow  and 
arrows  in  a  fine  case  and  quiver;  or  a  stone- 
headed  war-club ;  real  weapons  that  had 
killed  buffalo  and  been  in  battles  between 
the  tribes.  And  once  he  brought  me  a  Sioux 
scalp,  the  heavy  braided  hair  all  of  four  feet 
in  length.  When  I  asked  him  where  he  got 
it  he  laughed  a  little  and  said,  "  Oh,  I  got  it 
up  there  near  Fort  Union."  But  I  had  seen 
my  mother  shake  her  head  at  him,  and  by 
that  I  knew  that  I  was  not  to  be  told  more. 
I  guessed,  though,  that  he  had  taken  that 
scalp  himself,  and  long  afterward  I  found 
out  that  I  had  guessed  right. 

One  night  I  heard  the  family  talking 
about  me.  I  had  been  sent  to  bed  and  was 
supposed  to  be  asleep,  but  as  the  door  to  my 
room  was  open  and  I  was  lying  wide  awake, 

3 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  could  n't  help  hearing.  My  mother  was 
taking  Uncle  Wesley  to  task.  "  You  know 
that  the  presents  you  bring  him  only  add  to 
his  interest  in  trapping  and  trading,"  she 
said,  "and  as  it  is,  we  don't  succeed  very 
well  in  interesting  him  in  his  studies,  and  in 
the  life  we  have  planned  for  him." 

"  You  know  how  our  hearts  are  set  on  his 
going  to  Princeton,"  said  my  father,  in  his 
always  low,  gentle  voice,  "and  then  becom 
ing  such  a  preacher  as  his  grandfather  was 
before  him.  You  must  help  us,  Wesley. 
Show  the  boy  the  dark  side  of  the  plains 
life,  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  it." 

In  our  little  sitting-room  there  was  a  pic 
ture  of  Grandfather  Fox,  a  tall,  dark  man 
with  a  long  wig.  He  wore  a  long-tailed  coat 
with  a  tremendous  collar,  knee-breeches, 
black  stockings,  and  shoes  with  enormous 
buckles.  I  thought  that  I  should  not  like  to 
be  a  preacher  if  that  was  the  way  I  must 
dress.  And  thinking  that,  I  lost  the  rest  of 
what  they  were  saying  and  fell  asleep. 

4 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Uncle  Wesley  stayed  with  us  only  a  few 
days  that  spring.  He  intended  to  remain  a 
month,  but  one  morning  Pierre  Chouteau, 
the  head  of  the  great  fur  company,  came  to 
our  house  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him, 
with  the  result  that  he  left  for  Fort  Union 
the  very  next  day,  to  take  the  place  of  some 
one  who  had  died  there. 

So  I  went  back  to  my  studies,  and  my 
parents  kept  me  closer  at  home  than  ever.  I 
was  allowed  to  go  out  on  real  play  spells  only 
for  two  hours  on  Saturday  afternoons.  There 
were  very  few  American  boys  in  the  town 
in  those  days.  Most  of  my  playmates  were 
French  Creoles,  who  spoke  very  little  Eng 
lish,  or  none  at  all,  so  naturally  I  learned 
their  patois.  That  knowledge  was  very  use 
ful  to  me  in  after  days. 

I  am  going  to  pass  over  what  I  have  to 
say  now  as  quickly  as  possible,  for  even  after 
all  these  years,  and  old  as  I  am,  the  thought 
of  it  still  hurts.  In  February  of  the  follow 
ing  winter  my  father  fell  ill  of  smallpox  and 

5 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

died.  Then  my  mother  and  I  took  it,  and 
my  mother  died  also. 

I  did  not  know  anything  about  her  death 
until  many  days  after  she  was  buried,  and 
then  I  wanted  to  die,  too.  I  felt  that  there 
was  nothing  in  the  world  for  me,  until  one 
day  Pierre  Chouteau  himself  came  for  me 
in  his  grand  carriage,  took  me  to  his  house, 
and  kept  me  there  until  May,  when  my 
uncle  arrived  again  in  St.  Louis. 

Uncle  Wesley  put  on  what  we  call  "  a  bold 
front "  when  he  came  to  me,  but  for  all  that 
I  could  see  that  he  was  very  sad.  We  had 
just  one  talk  about  my  future.  "  I  should 
like  to  carry  out  your  father's  and  mother's 
plans  for  you,  Tom,"  he  said.  "  The  only 
way  to  do  it,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  is  to  send 
you  to  Cynthia  Mayhew,  in  Hartford,  Con 
necticut.  She  loved  your  mother,  —  they 
were  just  like  sisters,  —  and  I  know  that  she 
would  be  glad  to  take  care  of  you  and  see  to 
your  education/' 

I  broke  out  crying,  and  said  that  if  he 
6 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

sent  me  away  from  him  I  should  die.  How 
could  he  be  so  cruel  as  to  send  me  far  away 
among  strangers?  And  then  I  cried  all  the 
harder,  although  I  was  ashamed  of  myself 
for  doing  so. 

Uncle  Wesley  almost  broke  down  himself. 
He  gulped  hard  two  or  three  times,  and  his 
voice  was  n't  steady  as  he  took  me  on  his  lap 
and  felt  of  my  spindling  legs  and  arms. 

"  Poor  boy !  You  are  weak/'  he  said. 
"Weak  in  body  and  low  in  mind.  Well, 
we  '11  say  no  more  about  this  matter  of  your 
education  now.  I  '11  take  you  up  the  river 
with  me  for  a  year,  or  until  you  get  good 
and  strong.  But  we  '11  pack  your  study  books 
along,  and  a  good  part  of  your  mother's 
library,  and  you  '11  have  to  dig  into  them 
every  evening  after  we  get  settled.  Now 
that's  fair,  isn't  it?" 

It  was  more  than  fair.  My  fondest  dream 
was  to  be  realized.  I  was  actually  to  see  the 
country  and  the  Indians  and  the  great  herds 
of  buffalo.  There  was  nothing  in  St.  Louis 

7 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

now  to  keep  my  uncle  or  make  his  stay  there 
a  pleasure.  As  quickly  as  possible  he  disposed 
of  the  little  shop  and  its  contents,  and 
deposited  the  entire  proceeds  with  the  com 
pany  for  me  "for  a  rainy  day,"  as  he 
said. 

On  April  10,  1856,  we  left  St.  Louis  on 
the  Chippewa,  a  fine  new  boat  that  the  com 
pany  had  just  bought.  I  was  thirteen  years 
old,  and  that  was  my  first  steamboat  ride. 
As  the  stern-wheel  craft  swung  out  from  the 
levee  and  steamed  rapidly  —  as  it  seemed  to 
me  —  up-stream,  the  novel  experience  gave 
me  the  keenest  pleasure.  I  fairly  hugged 
myself  as  I  remembered  that  by  the  channel 
of  the  river  it  was  more  than  two  thousand 
miles  to  our  destination. 

We  no  sooner  left  the  Mississippi  and 
turned  into  the  more  muddy  waters  of  the 
Missouri  than  I  earnestly  begged  my  uncle 
to  get  his  rifle  out  of  the  cabin  and  load  it, 
so  as  to  be  ready  to  shoot  buffalo.  I  was  ter 
ribly  disappointed  when  he  told  me  that 

8 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

many  days  must  pass  before  we  should  see 
any  of  the  animals.  But  to  please  me  he 
brought  the  rifle  to  the  cabin  deck  and  fired 
a  couple  of  shots  at  the  sawyers  in  the  river. 
Again  he  loaded  the  piece,  and  told  me  to 
shoot  at  one. 

"  Even  boys  must  know  how  to  shoot 
where  we  are  going,"  he  said.  "  Now  take 
a  fine  sight  at  the  end  of  that  little  sawyer 
and  let 's  see  how  near  it  you  can  place  a 
bullet." 

I  did  as  I  was  told  and  fired,  after  a  long, 
wabbly  aim;  the  water  splashed  just  over 
the  tip  of  the  log,  and  a  number  of  passen 
gers  clapped  their  hands  and  praised  me. 

That  shot  began  my  training  in  shooting. 
Every  day  after  that,  until  we  got  to  the 
game  country,  I  spent  an  hour  shooting  at 
different  objects  in  the  water  and  on  the 
banks.  One  morning  I  fired  at  one  of  a  pair 
of  wild  geese.  The  bird  gave  a  flap  or  two 
of  its  great  wings,  its  head  dropped,  and  it 
floated  inertly  with  the  current. 

9 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"I  killed  it!"  I  shouted.  "I  killed  it! 
Wasn't  that  a  fine  shot,  uncle  ?" 

He  was  silent  a  moment,  and  then  said 
gravely :  — 

"  It  was  a  thoughtless  boy's  shot.  And  I 
hope  it  will  be  the  only  one.  A  true  hunter 
never  takes  the  life  of  God's  creatures  need 
lessly." 

That  was  all  he  said,  but  the  reproof  was 
enough.  I  took  it  to  heart,  and  all  my  life  I 
have  not  only  profited  by  it,  but  preached  to 
others  against  the  wanton  taking  of  life. 

After  passing  St.  Charles,  Missouri,  the 
ranches  of  the  settlers  were  farther  and  far 
ther  apart,  and  in  a  few  days  we  saw  the  last 
of  them  and  were  in  the  wild  country.  Game 
now  became  more  and  more  frequent,  espe 
cially  white-tail  deer,  of  which  we  soon  had 
some  for  the  table.  The  boat  was  always  tied 
to  an  island  or  to  the  shore  at  sundown,  and 
during  the  short  remainder  of  daylight  we 
would  all  scatter  in  the  near  timber  to  hunt. 
A  number  of  wild  turkeys  were  killed,  which 

10 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

made  us  some  fine  feasts.  On  these  occasions, 
however,  I  was  only  a  follower  of  the  hunt 
ers.  My  red-letter  day  was  yet  to  come. 

At  Fort  Pierre  we  saw  a  great  number  of 
Sioux  Indians.  Formerly  a  company  post, 
it  had  been  sold  to  the  United  States,  and 
was  now  occupied  by  several  companies  of 
soldiers.  Two  days  after  leaving  the  fort, 
we  sighted  the  first  of  the  buffalo  herds,  a 
small  band  of  bulls  that  splashed  out  of  the 
river  not  far  ahead  of  the  boat,  and  took  to 
the  hills.  About  four  o'clock  that  afternoon, 
the  port  engine  breaking  down,  we  had  to 
make  a  long  stop  for  repairs.  As  soon  as  we 
swung  into  the  bank  and  learned  that  the 
boat  would  be  tied  there  for  the  night,  my 
uncle  got  out  his  rifle,  and  we  went  hunting. 

The  timber  bordering  the  river  was  half 
a  mile  wide,  with  an  undergrowth  of  wil 
low-  and  rose-brush  so  thick  that  we  never 
could  have  penetrated  it  but  for  the  game 
trails  crossing  it  in  every  direction.  From 
the  looks  of  them,  I  thought  that  thousands 

ii 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

of  animals  must  be  living  there.  The  trails 
were  worn  deep  by  their  sharp  hoofs. 

In  places  the  earth  was  moist  but  hard, 
and  there  the  tracks  were  plainly  outlined. 
My  uncle  pointed  out  the  difference  in  them 
• —  how  the  tracks  of  the  deer  differed  from 
those  of  elk,  and  how  these  differed  again 
from  the  tracks  of  the  buffalo.  I  was  taught, 
too,  that  wolf  tracks  were  longer  than  those 
of  the  mountain-lion,  which  were  nearly  cir 
cular.  Finally,  I  was  asked  to  prove  my 
knowledge. 

"  What  made  those  tracks  ? "  I  was  asked. 

I  hesitated  a  moment,  and  replied  that  I 
thought  buffalo  had  made  them. 

"  Right/'  said  my  uncle.  "They  seem  very 
fresh ;  we  will  follow  them." 

The  myriad  tracks  of  different  game,  the 
mystery  of  the  deep  woods,  the  thought  that 
hostile  Indians  might  be  there  hunting  us, 
all  combined  to  excite  me.  My  heart  thumped 
rapidly  and  I  found  it  difficult  to  breathe.  I 
was  afraid,  and  kept  looking  intently  in  all 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

directions  —  even  behind  me,  for  I  expected 
every  moment  to  see  something  come  charg 
ing  through  the  brush,  either  to  rend  us 
with  sharp  claws  or  to  stick  our  bodies  full 
of  arrows. 

But  nothing  could  have  induced  me  to 
admit  that  I  felt  so  ;  gritting  my  teeth,  I  fol 
lowed  on  uncertain  legs,  close  at  Uncle  Wes 
ley's  heels.  So  close  was  I  that  when  he  sud 
denly  stopped,  I  bumped  into  him,  and  then 
gave  a  little  squeal  of  fright,  for  I  thought 
that  he  had  discovered  something  to  justify 
my  fears. 

"  Sb-b-b-b!"  he  cautioned,  and  reaching 
back  and  drawing  me  to  his  side,  he  pointed 
significantly  ahead. 

We  were  only  a  few  yards  from  the  outer 
edge  of  the  timber  ;  a  hundred  yards  farther 
on  were  three  buffalo  bulls,  standing  motion 
less  on  the  open,  sparsely  grassed  bottom-land. 
How  big  they  were  !  How  majestic  and  yet 
uncouth  they  loomed  before  me !  They  had 
apparently  no  necks  at  all.  Forgetting  en- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

tirely  our  purpose  in  coming  there,  I  stared 
at  them  with  intense  interest,  until  my  uncle 
passed  me  the  rifle  and  whispered,  "  Take  that 
farthest  one.  He  is  young  and  in  good  condi 
tion.  Aim  low,  close  behind  his  shoulder." 

My  hands  closed  on  the  long-barreled, 
heavy  weapon.  Heretofore  my  boy  strength 
had  been  sorely  taxed  to  shoot  with  it,  but 
now,  in  my  tense  excitement,  it  fairly  leaped 
to  my  shoulder,  and  I  was  able  to  hold  it 
steady.  I  pulled  the  trigger. 

Bang!  A  thick  cloud  of  powder  smoke 
drifted  into  my  face,  and  then  passed  on,  and 
I  saw  two  of  the  bulls  running  across  the 
bottom ;  the  other  was  swaying,  staggering 
round  and  round,  with  blood  streaming  from 
its  mouth.  Before  I  could  reload,  it  toppled 
over  with  a  crash  and  lay  still. 

I  stood  staring  at  the  animal  like  one  in 
a  dream ;  it  was  hard  to  realize  that  I  had 
actually  killed  it.  Uncle  Wesley  broke  my 
trance  by  praising  the  shot  I  had  made,  and 
added  that  the  animal  was  in  fine  condition 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  would  weigh  all  of  a  ton.  He  had  me 
lie  down  on  it,  my  feet  even  with  its  fore 
feet,  and  I  found  that  I  could  not  reach  the 
top  of  its  withers,  or  rather,  its  hump :  its 
height  had  been  more  than  six  feet. 

I  now  got  my  first  lesson  in  skinning  and 
butchering  one  of  these  great  animals.  With 
out  axe  or  windlass,  or  any  of  the  other 
things  regarded  as  indispensable  by  farmers 
and  by  professional  butchers,  the  old-time 
plainsmen  made  a  quick  and  neat  job  of 
this  work  with  only  a  common  butcher- 
knife. 

First,  my  uncle  doubled  up  the  bull's  fore 
legs  and  straightened  back  the  hind  ones. 
Then,  little  by  little,  he  twisted  the  great 
head  sharply  back  beside  the  body,  at  the 
same  time  heaving  up  the  back,  and  in  a  mo 
ment  or  two  the  animal  lay  prone  on  its  belly, 
propped  up  in  that  position  by  the  head.  If 
the  skin  had  been  wanted,  the  rolling-up  of 
the  animal  would  have  been  reversed,  and  it 
would  have  lain  on  its  back,  legs  up,  and  as 

*$ 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

in  the  other  way,  propped  in  position  by  the 
bent-back  head. 

After  making  an  incision  along  the  back 
from  head  to  tail,  he  skinned  both  sides  down 
to  the  ground,  and  even  under  the  body,  by 
propping  the  head  one  way  and  then  another, 
and  slanting  the  carcass  so  that  there  was 
knife  room  beneath.  At  last  the  body  lay 
free,  back  up,  on  the  clean,  spread-out 
skin. 

The  choicest  part  of  it  was  the  so-called 
"  hump,"  or  in  frontier  language,  the  "  boss 
ribs/'  These  dorsal  ribs  rose  gradually  from 
the  centre  of  the  back  to  a  length  of  twenty 
inches  and  more  just  above  the  point  of  the 
shoulders,  and  were  deeply  covered  with  rich 
tenderloin. 

It  took  but  a  moment  to  get  the  set  off. 
Uncle  Wesley  cut  an  incision  along  each  side 
at  the  base  of  them ;  then  he  unjointed  a  hind 
leg  at  the  gambrel-joint,  and  with  that  for  a 
club  he  hit  the  tips  of  the  ribs  a  few  blows, 
causing  them  to  snap  off  from  the  back-bone 

16 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

like  so  many  pipe-stems,  and  the  whole  hump 
lay  free  on  the  hide. 

Next,  he  removed  the  legs  with  a  few  deft 
cuts  of  the  knife,  and  laid  them  out  on  the 
clean  grass;  unjointed  the  backbone  at  the 
third  rib  and  removed  the  after  part ;  severed 
the  neck  from  the  big  ribs,  cut  them  apart  at 
the  brisket,  and  smashed  one  side  of  them  free 
from  the  backbone  with  the  leg  club,  and 
there  we  had  the  great  animal  divided  in 
eight  parts.  Lastly,  he  removed  the  tongue 
through  an  incision  in  the  lower  jaw. 

"There,"  said  he,  when  it  was  all  done, 
"  now  you  know  how  to  butcher.  Let 's  hurry 
to  the  boat  and  get  the  roustabouts  to  carry 
in  the  meat." 

From  this  point  on,  there  were  days  at  a 
time  when  we  saw  no  Indians,  and  the  vari 
ous  kinds  of  game  animals  were  more  and 
more  plentiful  and  tame.  At  last,  several  days 
after  passing  Fort  Clarke,  we  came  to  the 
American  Fur  Company's  greater  post,  Fort 
Union,  situated  on  the  north  bank  of  the 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

river  about  five  miles  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Yellowstone. 

It  was  begun  in  1829,  under  the  direction 
of  the  factor,  Kenneth  McKenzie,  and  fin 
ished  in  1832.  A  stockade  of  logs  ten  or 
twelve  feet  long,  set  up  on  end,  side  by  side, 
protected  the  buildings,  and  this,  in  turn, 
was  commanded  by  two-storied  bastions,  in 
which  cannon  were  mounted  at  the  north 
east  and  southwest  corners. 

When  we  approached  the  place,  a  flag 
was  run  up  on  the  staff  of  the  fort,  cannon 
boomed  a  welcome,  and  a  great  crowd  of 
Indians  and  company  men,  headed  by  the 
factor,  gathered  at  the  shore  to  greet  us. 
My  uncle  and  I  were  escorted  to  the  two- 
story  house  which  formed  the  rear  of  the 
fort,  and  in  which  were  the  quarters  of  the 
factor  and  clerks. 

I  learned  afterward  that  distinguished 
guests  had  been  housed  there:  George  Catlin, 
the  painter  and  philanthropist,  in  1 8  3  2 ;  Max 
imilian,  Prince  of  Neuwied,  in  1833;  and 

18 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Audubon,  the  great  naturalist,  in  1843. 
of  them  published  extremely  interesting  ac 
counts  of  what  they  saw  and  did  in  the  Up 
per  Missouri  country,  which  I  commend  to 
the  reader,  Maximilian's  "  Travels  in  North 
America"  especially;  for  I  went  up  the  river 
from  Fort  Union  just  as  he  did,  and  there 
had  been  practically  no  change  in  the  con 
ditions  of  the  country  from  his  time  to  mine. 
Maximilian  gives  a  wonderfully  accurate  and 
vivid  description  of  the  remarkable  scenery 
of  the  Missouri,  without  question  the  most 
strangely  picturesque  river  in  America,  and 
probably  in  the  world. 

My  Uncle  Wesley  was  a  valued  clerk  of 
the  American  Fur  Company.  He  was  sent 
from  one  to  another  of  their  Far  Western 
forts,  as  occasion  for  his  services  arose,  and 
frequently  he  was  in  full  charge  of  a  post 
for  months  at  a  time,  while  the  factor  went 
on  a  trip  to  the  States.  When  we  arrived 
in  Fort  Union  he  was  told  that  he  must  go 
on  to  Fort  Benton,  where  the  factor  needed 

19 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

his  help.  At  that  time,  since  the  company's 
steamboats  went  no  farther  than  Fort  Union, 
all  the  goods  for  the  posts  beyond  were  sent 
in  keel-boats,  or  bateaux.  It  was  not  until  the 
summer  of  1 860  that  the  extreme  upper  river 
was  found  to  be  navigable,  and  on  July  2  of 
that  year  the  Chippewa  and  the  Key  West  ar 
rived  at  Fort  Benton. 

A  keel-boat  was  lying  at  Fort  Union  when 
we  arrived  there ;  it  was  waiting  for  part  of 
the  Chippewa's  cargo  of  ammunition,  guns, 
and  various  trade  goods,  mostly  tobacco,  red 
and  blue  cloth,  brass  wire  for  jewelry,  Chin 
ese  vermilion,  and  small  trinkets.  These 
were  soon  transferred,  and  we  resumed  our 
voyage,  Uncle  Wesley  in  charge  of  the  boat 
and  crew.  The  Minnie  was  sixty  feet  long, 
ten  feet  wide,  and  was  decked  over.  The 
crew  consisted  of  thirty  French-Canadian 
cordelliers,  or  towmen,  a  cook,  a  steersman 
and  two  bowmen,  and  a  hunter  with  his 
horse.  In  a  very  small  cabin  aft  there  were 
two  bunks.  Forward  there  was  a  mast  and 

20 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

sail  for  use  when  the  wind  was  favorable  — 
which  was  seldom.  There  was  a  big  sweep 
oar  on  each  side,  and  a  number  of  poles 
were  scattered  along  the  deck  to  be  used  as 
occasion  required.  In  the  bow  there  was  a 
four-pound  howitzer,  loaded  with  plenty  of 
powder,  and  a  couple  of  quarts  of  trade  balls, 
in  case  of  an  attack  by  Indians,  which  was 
not  at  all  improbable. 

By  the  channel  it  was  called  eight  hundred 
miles  from  Fort  Union  to  Fort  Benton,  where 
we  hoped  to  arrive  in  two  months.  After 
the  first  day's  experience,  I  thought  that  we 
should  be  fortunate  if  we  reached  the  place 
in  two  years.  From  morning  until  night  the 
cordelliers  toiled  as  I  had  never  seen  men 
toil  before.  It  was  a  painful  sight,  those 
thirty  men  tugging  on  the  long  tow-rope  as 
they  floundered  through  water  often  waist- 
deep  ;  through  quicksand  or  mud  so  tenacious 
that  the  more  unfortunate  were  dragged  out 
of  it  gasping  for  breath  and  smeared  with  the 
stuff  from  head  to  foot.  They  frequently  lost 

21 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

their  footing  on  steep  places  and  rolled  down 
into  deep  water ;  banks  of  earth  caved  upon 
them;  they  were  scratched  and  torn  by 
rose-brush  and  bull-berry  thorns ;  they  were 
obliged  to  cut  trails  along  the  top  of  the 
banks  in  places,  and  to  clear  a  way  for  the 
boat  through  dense  masses  of  sawyers  and 
driftwood. 

A  day  or  two  after  leaving  Fort  Union 
we  narrowly  escaped  losing  the  boat,  and 
the  lives  of  all  of  us  who  were  on  it,  in  the 
treacherous  swirling  current.  At  the  time 
the  cordelliers  were  walking  easily  along  a 
sandy  shore  under  a  high  bank.  Ahead  of 
them,  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  lay  a  dead 
buffalo  bull,  its  rump  partly  eaten  by  the 
prowling  animals.  When  the  lead-man  was 
within  a  few  feet  of  it  a  big  grizzly  sprang 
toward  him  from  the  other  side  of  the  car 
cass,  where  it  had  lain  asleep.  The  men 
dropped  the  rope  and  with  loud  cries  sprang 
into  the  water,  since  they  could  not  climb 
the  bank.  The  boat  at  once  turned  broad- 

22 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

side  to  the  swift  current,  drifted  against  two 
sawyers,  and  began  to  turn  turtle.  The  lower 
rail  was  already  under  water,  and  the  horse 
had  lost  its  footing  and  tumbled  overboard, 
where  it  hung  strangling,  when  by  the  great 
est  good  fortune  first  one  and  then  the  other 
of  the  sawyers  snapped  under  the  strain,  and 
the  boat  righted  and  swung  in  to  the  bank. 
We  now  had  time  to  see  what  was  going  on 
above.  The  bear  was  just  leaving  the  oppo 
site  shore  and  making  for  the  timber ;  the 
men,  dripping  from  their  hasty  bath,  were 
gathered  in  a  close  group  near  the  carcass, 
and  were  talking  and  gesticulating  as  only 
Frenchmen  can.  We  suspected  that  some 
thing  was  wrong,  and  while  the  bowmen 
made  the  boat  fast,  the  rest  of  us  hurried  up 
the  shore.  The  group  parted  at  our  approach 
and  disclosed  one  of  their  number  —  the 
lead-man  on  the  rope  —  lying  moaning  on 
the  sand.  The  bear  had  overtaken  and 
mauled  him  terribly,  and  then,  frightened 
probably  by  the  loud  cries  of  so  many  men, 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

it  took  to  the  river  and  swam  away.  We 
got  the  wounded  man  aboard  at  once,  and 
my  uncle  set  his  arm  and  made  him  as  com 
fortable  as  possible.  The  hunter  had  saved 
his  horse  by  cutting  its  rope  and  swimming 
with  it  to  a  landing  far  down  stream.  As 
soon  as  the  tow-line  was  recovered  we  went 
on,  thankful  that  the  accident  had  been  no 
worse. 

Yet  through  it  all  they  were  cheerful  and 
happy,  and  at  the  evening  camp-fire  my 
uncle  was  frequently  obliged  to  speak  harshly 
to  keep  them  from  shouting  their  voyageur 
songs,  that  might  have  brought  some  prowl 
ing  war  party  of  Indians  down  on  us.  The 
food  of  these  men  was  meat  —  nothing  but 
meat,  washed  down  with  a  little  tea.  Some 
times  they  managed  to  dig  a  few  pommes 
blanches,  white,  edible  roots  that  were  very 
palatable  when  roasted  in  the  coals.  Uncle 
Wesley  and  I  had  a  box  of  hard  crackers 
and  a  few  pounds  of  flour  and  sugar.  When 
they  were  gone,  he  told  me,  we  should  have 

24 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

no  more  until  we  sat  down  to  our  Christmas 
dinner.  That  did  not  worry  me ;  I  thought 
that  if  big,  strong  men  could  live  on  meat, 
a  boy  could,  too. 

The  river  wound  like  a  snake  through  the 
great  valley.  There  were  long  points  only  a 
mile  or  two  across  by  land,  but  many  times 
that  distance  round  by  the  channel.  Some 
times  when  we  came  to  such  a  place  Uncle 
Wesley  and  I  would  hunt  across  the  bottom 
and  then  wait  for  the  boat.  On  these  trips  I 
killed  my  first  deer  and  elk  and  antelope — 
not  to  mention  several  more  buffalo. 

But  Uncle  Wesley  was  always  uneasy  when 
away  from  the  boat ;  he  was  responsible  for 
it  and  its  cargo,  which  was  worth  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  furs.  Should 
anything  happen  to  it  while  he  was  away 
from  it,  even  for  an  hour's  hunt,  his  hope  of 
eventually  becoming  a  member  of  the  great 
company  would  have  to  be  given  up.  Finally, 
after  minute  instructions  in  the  proper 
handling  of  the  rifle,  I  was  allowed  to  ac- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

company  the  hunjter  on  his  daily  quests  for 
meat. 

Baptiste  Rondin  was  a  dreamy,  gentle  little 
Creole  from  Louisiana.  He  came  from  a  good 
family,  had  not  been  taught  to  work,  and  had 
hated  books,  so  he  told  me.  So  when  mis 
fortune  came  to  his  family,  and  he  had  to  do 
something,  he  chose  the  position  he  now  held 
in  preference  to  others  with  more  pay  which 
the  Chouteaus  had  offered  him.  When  we 
started  out  in  the  morning,  I  would  climb  up 
behind  him  on  the  gentle  old  horse,  and  we 
would  ride  for  miles  up  one  side  or  the  other 
of  the  river.  We  always  saw  various  kinds 
of  game  soon  after  leaving  the  boat,  but  never 
attempted  to  kill  any  until  some  was  found 
convenient  to  the  shore  of  the  river,  where 
the  boat  could  land  and  the  meat  easily  be 
taken  aboard. 

Besides  looking  for  game,  we  examined 
every  dusty  trail,  every  mudflat  and  sandbar, 
and  constantly  scanned  the  bottoms  and  the 
hills  for  signs  of  Indians.  They  were  the  great 

26 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

terror  of  the  cordelliers;  often  a  boat's  crew 
was  surprised  and  killed,  or  the  cargo  was 
destroyed. 

We  tied  up  one  night  four  or  five  miles 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Musselshell  River, 
which  my  Uncle  Wesley  said  Lewis  and  Clark 
had  so  named  on  account  of  the  quantities  of 
fossil  shells  that  are  found  there. 

Early  the  next  morning  Baptiste  saddled 
the  old  horse,  and  we  started  out  to  hunt  at 
the  same  time  that  the  cordelliers  hauled  the 
rope  tight  and  began  their  weary  tramp. 

We  came  to  the  lower  edge  of  the  big  bot 
tom  at  the  mouth  of  the  Musselshell.  Oppo 
site  the  mouth  there  was  a  heavily  timbered 
island.  One  small  band  of  antelope  was  the 
only  game  in  sight  between  us  and  the  Mus 
selshell.  On  the  other  side  of  it,  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  bottom  and  close  to  the  Missouri, 
there  were  a  couple  of  hundred  buffalo,  some 
feeding,  some  lying  down. 

They  were  so  far  away  that  we  rode  boldly 
through  the  tall  sage-brush  to  the  little  river, 

27 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  across  it  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  strip  of 
timber.  There  Baptiste  told  me  to  remain 
with  the  horse  while  he  crept  out  to  the  herd 
and  made  a  killing.  I  did  not  like  being  left 
alone.  There  were  many  fresh  grizzly  tracks 
on  the  river  sands  just  behind  me,  and  I  was 
afraid  of  the  terrible  animals,  so  afraid  that  I 
did  not  dare  to  dismount  and  gather  some 
strawberries  which  showed  in  the  grass  at  the 
horse's  feet. 

The  passing  minutes  seemed  hours.  The 
tall  sage-brush  out  ahead  had  swallowed  Bap 
tiste.  By  rising  in  the  stirrups  I  could  just  see 
the  backs  of  some  of  the  distant  buffalo.  A 
sudden  splash  in  the  river  made  my  heart 
flutter,  and  I  quickly  turned  to  see  what  had 
caused  it. 

Here  and  there  between  the  trees  and  brush 
its  glistening  surface  was  in  plain  view,  and 
through  one  opening  I  saw  something  more 
terrible  than  a  whole  band  of  grizzlies :  an 
Indian  crossing  toward  me.  I  saw  his  face, 
painted  red  with  blue  bars  across  the  cheeks ; 

28 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  noted  that  he  wore  leather  clothing;  that  a 
shield  hung  suspended  from  his  left  arm ; 
that  in  his  right  hand  he  grasped  a  bow  and 
a  few  arrows. 

All  this  I  noted  in  an  instant  of  time ;  and 
then  nearer  to  me,  and  more  to  the  right,  a 
stick  snapped,  and  I  turned  my  head  to  see 
another  Indian  in  the  act  of  letting  an  arrow 
fly  at  me.  I  yelled  and  gave  the  horse  such 
a  thump  with  the  stock  of  my  rifle  that  he 
made  a  long,  quick  leap.  That  was  a  lucky 
thing  for  me.  The  arrow  aimed  at  my  body 
cut  through  my  coat  sleeve  and  gashed  my 
left  arm  just  above  the  elbow. 

I  yelled  frantically  for  Baptiste  and  urged 
the  horse  on  through  the  sage-brush.  I  looked 
back,  and  saw  that  Indians  all  up  and  down 
the  stream  were  leaving  the  timber  and  run 
ning  toward  me.  I  looked  ahead  and  saw 
the  smoke  of  Baptiste's  gun,  heard  the  re 
port,  saw  the  buffalo  bunch  up  and  then 
scurry  westward  for  the  nearest  hills. 

The  thought  came  to  me  that  I  could  pick 
29 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  hunter  up,  and  that  the  old  horse  would 
easily  carry  us  beyond  the  possibility  of  an 
attack  by  Indians  afoot.  That  hope  was  shat 
tered  a  moment  later.  The  buffalo  suddenly 
circled  and  came  back  into  the  bottom,  and  I 
saw  that  they  had  been  turned  by  some  In 
dians  at  the  edge  of  the  hills.  Indians  were 
strung  out  clear  across  the  flat,  were  leaping 
through  the  sage-brush  toward  us,  and  shout 
ing  their  dreadful  war-cry ;  they  were  hem 
ming  us  in  on  the  south,  and  the  great  river 
cut  off  our  retreat  to  the  north. 

I  urged  the  old  horse  on,  determined  to 
reach  Baptiste  and  die  by  his  side,  but  the 
Indians  who  had  appeared  on  the  hills  were 
now  quite  near  him.  I  saw  him  raise  his 
rifle  and  fire  at  the  one  in  the  lead,  then  turn 
and  run  a  few  steps  and  spring  from  the 
high  cut-bank  into  the  river.  But  just  be 
fore  jumping  he  paused,  and  raising  a  hand, 
motioned  to  me  to  turn  back. 

To  turn  back !  Accustomed  to  obeying 
him,  I  sawed  on  the  bridle  and  the  horse 

30 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

stopped.  I  looked  over  my  shoulder,  and 
saw  that  the  nearest  of  the  Indians  were  not 
three  hundred  yards  from  me.  In  my  dis 
tress  I  cried,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  Oh,  what 
shall  I  — what  can  I  do  to  escape  ?  " 


CHAPTER   II 

I  DO  not  know  why  I  cried  out.  Of  course 
there  was  no  one  to  answer,  to  ad  vise,  or  as 
sist  me.  I  have  often  noticed  that  in  times 
of  stress  men  shout  the  questions  that  they 
ask  themselves.  Why  had  Baptiste  motioned 
me  to  go  back,  when  by  doing  so  I  must  run 
right  into  the  Indians?  I   must  have   mis 
understood    his    signal.    Clearly,    my    only 
chance  of  escape  was  the  same  as  his,  and  that 
was  by  the  river. 

Pummeling  the  old  horse  with  rifle-stock 
and  heels,  I  headed  him  for  the  stream.  Not 
straight  toward  it,  where  the  bank  was  appar 
ently  very  high,  but  obliquely,  toward  a  point 
not  far  above  the  mouth  of  the  Musselshell. 
There  the  bank  was  certainly  not  high,  for 
the  tips  of  water-willows  peeped  above  it. 

In  a  few  moments  I  was  close  enough  to 
look  over  it.  Between  the  narrow  strip  of 
willows  and  the  edge  of  the  water  there  was 

32 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

an  oozy  mudflat,  fifty  yards  wide,  impassable 
for  man  or  horse. 

I  looked  back  at  the  enemy,  and  saw  that 
when  I  had  turned  downstream,  those  toward 
the  upper  end  of  the  bottom  had  given  up  the 
chase,  while  the  rest  had  turned  with  me  and 
run  faster  than  ever.  Thus  there  was  a  wide 
gap  between  the  two  parties,  and  I  circled 
toward  it,  as  my  last  chance.  First  up  the  river 
for  several  hundred  yards,  then  straight  south, 
away  from  it.  Both  parties  immediately  per 
ceived  my  intention,  and  spurted  to  close  the 
gap.  Harder  and  harder  I  thumped  the  horse, 
although  by  this  time  he  had  waked  up,  and 
was  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  flight.  The 
distance  between  the  two  parties  of  Indians 
was  now  not  more  than  three  hundred  yards, 
and  I  was  more  than  that  from  the  point  for 
which  we  all  were  heading ;  but  to  offset  this 
I  was  covering  the  ground  much  faster  than 
they  were. 

The  Indians  were  now  yelling  frightfully, 
to  encourage  one  another  to  greater  speed.  I 

33 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

could  see  their  painted  faces,  and  a  little  later 
their  fierce  eyes. 

The  gap  was  very  small  now ;  they  began 
shooting,  and  several  pieces  of  lead  ripped  by 
me  with  the  sound  of  tearing  paper.  I  did  not 
try  to  use  my  rifle.  In  that  first  experience 
there  was  no  anger  in  my  heart  against  the 
enemy,  nothing  but  fear  of  them. 

I  felt,  rather  than  saw,  that  they  would  be 
unable  to  head  me  off,  if  only  by  a  narrow 
margin,  and  I  bent  low  over  the  horse  to  make 
myself  as  small  a  target  as  possible.  More  guns 
boomed  close  on  each  side  of  me.  Arrows 
whizzed,  too,  and  the  shaft  of  one  struck  my 
rifle-stock,  glanced  from  it,  and  cut  the  skin 
on  the  back  of  my  hand.  That  was  when  I 
passed  right  between  the  two  parties. 

In  a  dazed  way,  I  kept  urging  the  horse  on, 
until  presently  it  dawned  on  me  that  I  was 
past  the  danger  point.  Having  looked  back 
to  make  sure  of  this,  I  changed  my  course, 
crossed  the  Musselshell,  and  went  on  down 
the  bottom,  and  then  along  the  shore  of 

34 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  river  several  miles,  until  I  came  to  the 
boat. 

When  the  cordelliers  saw  me  returning  in 
such  haste,  they  knew  that  something  was 
wrong.  They  ceased  towing,  and  let  the  boat 
drift  in  to  the  bank,  in  such  a  position  that  I 
rode  right  on  the  deck.  I  was  still  so  fright 
ened  that  it  was  difficult  forme  to  talk,  but  my 
uncle,  guessing  the  parts  of  the  story  which 
I  omitted,  ordered  all  the  men  aboard.  In  a 
few  minutes  we  were  at  the  other  shore  of  the 
river. 

The  cordelliers  objected  to  going  on  with 
the  tow-line,  but  my  uncle  was  firm  that  they 
should  start  without  delay,  and  they  did.  The 
steersman,  an  old  and  tried  employee,  was 
sent  ahead  of  them  to  scout,  and  Uncle  Wesley 
took  his  place  at  the  sweep.  The  howitzer 
was  freshly  primed,  and  one  of  the  men  in 
structed  to  stand  by,  ready  to  aim  and  fire  it. 
I  was  anxious  about  Baptiste,  and  although 
my  uncle  told  me  not  to  worry,  I  doubted  if 
we  should  ever  see  him  again. 

35 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

In  a  couple  of  hours  we  arrived  off  the  is 
land  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Musselshell, 
and  lo  !  Baptiste  came  out  of  the  brush  at  the 
lower  end  of  it,  and  signaled  us  to  take  him 
aboard.  That  was  done  with  the  skiff.  As 
soon  as  he  came  on  deck  he  ran  to  me,  in 
his  impetuous  French  way,  gave  me  a  hug 
and  a  thump  on  the  back,  and  exclaimed, "  It 
is  my  brave  boy !  And  he  is  safe  !  One  little 
wound  in  the  hand  ?  That  is  nothing.  Now, 
tell  me  how  you  made  the  escape/' 

But  at  this  moment  my  uncle  came  to  con 
sult  the  hunter,  and  my  story  was  deferred. 
I  learned  from  Baptiste  later  that  the  Indians 
were  Crees,  probably  on  their  way  south,  to 
raid  the  Crow  horse  herds. 

By  this  time  we  had  passed  the  island. 
Baptiste  was  just  asking  us  to  note  how  high 
the  cut-bank  was  from  which  he  had  jumped 
into  the  stream,  when  the  whole  party  of 
Indians  rose  out  of  the  sage-brush  at  the  edge 
of  it,  and  with  much  yelling,  fired  their  guns 
at  us.  As  the  distance  was  three  or  four  hun- 

36 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

dred  yards,  only  a  few  of  their  balls  struck 
anywhere  near  the  boat.  Uncle  Wesley  him 
self  sprang  to  the  howitzer,  swung  it  round, 
tilted  up  the  barrel,  and  fired  it.  Some  of  the 
balls  dropped  into  the  water  near  the  far 
shore,  several  spatted  little  puffs  of  dust  out  of 
the  dry  cut-bank,  and  others  must  have  passed 
right  among  the  war  party.  Anyway,  the  In 
dians  all  ducked  down  and  ran  back  from  the 
bluff.  We  saw  no  more  of  them. 

Ever  since  leaving  the  mouth  of  the  Yel 
lowstone  we  had  been  passing  through  the 
extraordinary  formation  of  the  Bad  Lands. 
From  this  point  onward  the  scenery  became 
more  and  more  wonderful.  Boy  that  I  was, 
I  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  strange 
grandeur  of  it  all  that  the  sensations  I  expe 
rienced  were  at  times  actually  oppressive.  At 
every  turn  there  was  something  to  astonish 
the  eye.  There  were  gleaming  white  and 
gray  turreted  castles,  perched  high  above  the 
stream  ;  cities  of  clustering  domes  and  towers 
and  minarets,  all  wrought  by  the  elements 

37 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

from  sandstones  of  varying  hardness,  but  all 
so  apparently  real  as  to  suggest  that  men  and 
women  in  mediaeval  dress  might  pass  out  of 
the  gates  in  the  walls  at  any  moment. 

We  arrived  at  Fort  Benton  just  ninety  days 
after  leaving  Fort  Union.  The  flag  was  raised 
and  cannon  fired  in  our  honor,  and  more  than 
five  thousand  Blackfeet,  headed  by  the  factor, 
Alexander  Culbertson,  and  the  employees  of 
the  fort,  crowded  to  the  river-bank  to  give  us 
welcome. 

I  was  astonished  to  see  so  many  Indians. 
I  noticed  that  they  were  tall,  fine-looking 
men  and  women ;  that  they  wore  beautiful 
garments  of  tanned  skins ;  that  their  hair  was 
done  up  in  long,  neat  braids ;  that  many  of 
the  leading  men  shook  hands  with  my  uncle, 
and  seemed  glad  to  meet  him. 

My  uncle  introduced  me  to  that  great  man, 
the  factor,  who  patted  me  kindly  on  the  shoul 
der.  With  him  we  went  into  the  fort,  where, 
just  as  we  passed  through  the  big  gate,  a  tall, 
handsome  Indian  woman,  wearing  a  neat 

38 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

calico  dress,  a  plaid  shawl,  and  beautifully 
embroidered  moccasins,  came  running  to  us, 
threw  her  arms  round  my  uncle,  and  kissed 
him.  I  must  have  looked  as  surprised  as  I 
felt,  especially  when  I  noted  that  he  was  very 
glad  to  meet  her.  Having  spoken  a  few  words 
to  her,  which  I  could  n't  understand,  he  turned 
to  me.  "  Thomas,"  he  said, "  this  is  your  aunt. 
I  hope  that  you  and  she  will  become  great 
friends." 

I  was  now  more  surprised  than  ever,  but 
tried  not  to  show  it  as  I  answered,  "  Yes,  sir." 

At  that  the  woman  gave  a  smile  that  was 
pleasant  to  see,  and  the  next  instant  she  had 
me  in  her  arms  and  was  kissing  me,  smooth 
ing  my  hair,  and  talking  Blackfoot  to  me  in 
her  strangely  clear  and  pleasant  voice.  My 
uncle  interpreted.  "  She  says  that  she  wants 
to  be  your  mother  now ;  that  she  wants  you 
to  love  her,  to  come  to  her  for  everything 
you  need." 

I  do  not  know  just  what  it  was,  —  her 
voice,  her  appearance,  the  motherly  feeling 

39 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

of  her  arms  round  me,  —  but  there  was  some 
thing  about  this  Indian  woman  that  made 
my  heart  go  straight  out  to  her.  I  gave  her 
hand  a  squeeze,  while  tears  came  to  my  eyes 
as  I  snuggled  up  close  to  her.  Right  will 
ingly  I  went  with  her  and  Uncle  Wesley  to 
the  room  in  the  far  end  of  the  long  adobe 
building  forming  the  east  side  of  the  fort, 
which  he  said  was  to  be  our  home  for  a  long 
time  to  come. 

It  was  the  kind  of  room  that  gave  one  a 
restful  feeling  at  sight.  Opposite  the  door 
way  was  a  big  fireplace  of  stone  and  adobe, 
with  hooks  above  the  mantel  for  rifles  and 
powder-horns  and  ball-pouches.  Two  win 
dows  on  the  courtyard  side  afforded  plenty 
of  light.  There  were  a  strong  table  and 
comfortable  chairs,  all  home-made.  A  settee 
covered  with  buffalo-robes  was  placed  before 
the  fire.  A  curtained  set  of  shelves  in  the 
corner  contained  the  dishes  and  cooking- 
utensils.  The  north  end  of  the  room  was 
partitioned  off  for  a  sleeping-place.  My  bed, 

40 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  was  told,  would  be  the  buffalo-robe  couch 
under  the  window  at  the  right  of  the  door. 

The  next  day  my  uncle  took  me  all  round 
the  fort  and  made  me  known  to  the  different 
employees  —  clerks  and  tailors,  carpenters 
and  blacksmiths,  and  the  men  of  the  trade- 
room.  The  fort  was  a  large  one,  about  three 
hundred  feet  square,  all  of  adobe.  Entering 
the  front  gate,  you  saw  that  three  long  build 
ings,  of  which  the  easterly  one  was  two  stories 
high,  formed  three  sides  of  the  quadrangle, 
and  that  a  high  wall  containing  the  gate 
formed  the  fourth,  or  south  side,  facing  the 
river.  The  outer  walls  of  the  buildings  were 
thus  the  defensive  walls  of  the  fort.  They 
were  protected  against  assault  by  two-storied 
bastions,  with  cannon  at  the  southeast  and 
northwest  corners.  All  the  tribes  of  the  North 
west  together  could  not  have  taken  the  place 
by  assault  without  the  loss  of  thousands  of 
their  force,  and  they  knew  it. 

Before  night  the  keel-boat  was  unloaded, 
and  our  trunks  were  brought  in  and  un- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

packed.  My  mother's  little  library  and  my 
school-books  filled  a  new  set  of  shelves,  and 
that  evening  I  began,  under  my  uncle's  di 
rection,  a  course  of  study  and  reading,  pre 
paratory  to  going  East  to  school  in  the  fol 
lowing  year. 

No  boy  ever  had  a  happier  time  than  I  had 
in  that  fort  so  far  beyond  the  borders  of  civil 
ization.  Day  in  and  day  out  there  was  always 
something  worth  while  going  on.  Hundreds, 
and  often  thousands,  of  Indians  carrie  in  to 
trade,  and  I  found  endless  pleasure  in  min 
gling  with  them  and  learned  their  language 
and  customs.  In  this  I  was  encouraged  by 
Tsistsaki  (Little  Bird  Woman),  my  uncle's 
wife.  She  had  no  children,  and  all  her  natu 
ral  mother  love  was  given  to  me.  In  her  way 
of  thinking,  nothing  that  I  did  could  be 
wrong,  and  the  best  of  everything  was  not 
good  enough  for  me.  The  beautifully  em 
broidered  buckskin  suits  and  moccasins  she 
made  for  me  fairly  dazzled  the  eye  with  their 
blaze  of  color.  These  were  not  for  everyday 

42 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

wear,  but  I  took  every  possible  occasion  for 
putting  them  on,  and  strutted  around,  the 
envy  of  all  the  Indian  boys  in  the  country. 

The  winter  passed  all  too  quickly.  With 
the  approach  of  spring  my  uncle  began  to 
plan  for  my  long  trip  to  St.  Louis,  and 
thence  to  the  home  of  my  mother's  Con 
necticut  friend,  where  I  was  to  prepare  for 
Princeton.  I  said  nothing  to  him,  but  I  had 
many  talks  with  my  aunt-mother,  Tsistsaki ; 
and  one  night  we  poured  out  such  a  torrent 
of  reasons  why  I  should  not  go,  ending  our 
pleadings  with  tears,  that  he  gave  in  to  us, 
and  agreed  that  I  should  grow  up  in  the  fur 
trade. 

A  frequent  visitor  in  our  cozy  room  in  the 
fort  was  a  nephew  of  Tsistsaki,  a  boy  several 
years  older  than  I.  We  liked  each  other  at 
sight,  and  every  time  we  met  we  became  firmer 
friends  than  ever.  "  Friend  "  means  much 
more  to  Indians  —  at  least,  to  the  Blackfeet 
— than  it  does  to  white  people.  Once  friends, 
Indians  are  always  friends.  They  almost  never 

43 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

quarrel.  So  it  came  to  be  with  Pitamakan 
(Eagle  Running)  and  myself. 

My  uncle  Wesley  was  as  much  pleased  as 
his  wife.  One  day  he  said  to  me,  "  Pitama 
kan  is  an  honest,  good-hearted  boy,  and  brave, 
too.  He  gets  all  that  from  his  father,  who  is 
one  of  the  very  best  and  most  trustworthy 
Indians  in  all  this  country,  and  from  his 
mother,  who  is  a  woman  of  fine  character. 
See  to  it  that  you  keep  his  friendship." 

Except,  of  course,  Baptiste  Rondin,  the 
hunter  of  the  fort,  Pitamakan  was  almost  the 
only  one  with  whom  I  was  allowed  to  go 
after  the  buffalo  and  the  other  game  which 
swarmed  on  the  plains  near  by.  What  with 
my  daily  studies,  occasional  hunts,  and  the 
constant  pleasure  I  had  in  the  life  of  the  fort, 
time  fairly  flew ;  no  day  was  too  long.  And 
yet,  for  four  years,  I  never  once  went  more 
than  five  miles  from  the  fort. 

During  this  time  my  one  great  desire  was 
to  go  on  a  trip  into  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Clearly  visible  from  the  high  plains  to  the 

44 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

north  and  south  of  the  river,  their  pine-clad 
slopes  and  sharp,  bare  peaks  always  seemed 
to  draw  me  to  explore  their  almost  unknown 
fastnesses. 

In  the  fall  of  1860  there  came  an  oppor 
tunity  for  me  to  do  this.  The  Small  Robes 
band  of  the  Blackfeet,  of  which  Pitamakan's 
father,  White  Wolf  (Mah-kwi'-yi  ksik-si- 
num),  was  chief,  outfitted  at  the  fort  for  an 
expedition  to  trap  beaver  along  the  foot  of 
the  great  mountains,  and,  much  to  my  sur 
prise  and  delight,  I  was  permitted  to  accom 
pany  them. 

At  this  time  there  were  ninety  lodges — 
about  six  hundred  people  —  of  the  Small 
Robes  (I-nuk-siks)  band  of  the  Blackfeet. 
They  had  several  thousand  horses,  and  when 
the  moving  camp  was  strung  out  on  the  plain, 
the  picturesque  riders,  the  pack-animals  laden 
with  queerly  shaped,  painted  rawhide  and 
leather  pouches  and  sacks,  made  a  pageant 
of  moving  color  that  was  very  impressive. 

Our  first  camp  after  leaving  the  fort  was 
45 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

on  the  Teton  River.  A  couch  was  made  up 
for  me  in  White  Wolfs  lodge.  The  lodge  of 
the  plains  Indians  was  the  most  comfortable 
portable  shelter  ever  devised  by  man.  One 
of  average  size  was  made  of  sixteen  large  cow 
buffalo-hides,  tanned  into  soft  leather,  cut  to 
shape,  and  sewed  together  with  sinew  thread. 
This  cone-shaped  "lodge  skin "  was 
stretched  over  tough,  slender  poles  of  moun 
tain-pine,  and  the  lower  edge,  or  skirt,  was 
pegged  so  that  it  was  at  least  four  inches 
above  the  ground.  Within,  a  leather  lining, 
firmly  weighted  to  the  ground  by  the  couches 
and  household  impedimenta  of  the  occu 
pants,  extended  upward  for  five  or  six  feet, 
where  it  was  tied  to  a  rope  that  was  fastened 
to  the  poles  clear  round.  There  was  a  space 
as  wide  as  the  thickness  of  the  poles  be 
tween  the  "  skin  "  and  the  lining,  so  that 
the  cold,  outside  air  rushing  up  through  it 
created  a  draft  for  the  fire,  and  carried  the 
smoke  out  of  the  open  space  at  the  top. 
This  lining,  of  course,  prevented  the  cold 

46 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

air  from  coming  into  the  lower  part  of  the 
lodge,  so  that  even  in  the  coldest  weather  a 
small  fire  was  enough  for  comfort. 

Traveling  leisurely  up  the  Teton  River, 
we  came  in  three  or  four  days  to  the  foot  of 
the  great  range.  There  we  went  into  camp 
for  several  weeks,  long  enough  for  the  hunt 
ers  to  trap  most  of  the  beavers,  not  only  on 
the  main  stream,  but  on  all  its  little  tribu 
taries.  Pitamakan  and  I  had  twelve  traps,  and 
were  partners  in  the  pursuit  of  the  animals. 

From  the  Teton  we  moved  northward  to 
Back-Fat  Creek,  now  Dupuyer  Creek.  From 
there  we  went  to  the  Two  Medicine  wa 
ters,  and  then  on  to  the  Cut-Bank  River. 
The  trapping  area  of  this  stream  was  small. 
On  the  first  day  of  our  camp  there  Pitama 
kan  and  I  foolishly  went  hunting,  with  the 
result  that  when,  on  the  next  day,  we  began 
looking  for  a  place  to  set  our  traps,  we  found 
that  all  the  beaver-ponds  and  bank-workings 
had  been  occupied  by  the  other  trappers. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  after  we  had 
47 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

followed  up  the  south  fork  to  a  tremendous 
walled  canon,  where  it  was  impossible  for  the 
beavers  to  make  dams  and  homes,  that  we 
made  this  discovery.  Our  disappointment 
was  keen,  for  from  Cut-Bank  the  camp  was 
to  return  to  Fort  Benton,  and  we  had  only 
thirty-seven  of  the  fifty  beaver  pelts  that  we 
had  planned  to  take  home  with  us. 

We  were  sitting  on  a  well-worn  trail 
that  stretched  along  the  mountainside  above 
the  canon,  when  Pitamakan  suddenly  ex 
claimed  :  — 

"  Listen  to  me !  We  will  get  the  rest  of 
the  beaver !  You  see  this  trail  ?  Well,  it 
crosses  this  backbone  of  the  world,  and  is 
made  by  the  other-side  people,  —  the  Koo- 
tenays  and  the  Flatheads,  —  so  that  they  can 
come  over  to  our  plains  and  steal  our  buf 
falo.  You  can  see  that  it  has  not  been  used 
this  summer.  It  will  not  be  used  at  all  now, 
since  winter  is  so  near.  Now,  down  on  the 
other  side  there  are  many  streams  in  the 
great  forest,  and  no  doubt  there  are  beavers 

48 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

in  them.  We  will  go  over  there  to-morrow, 
and  in  a  few  days'  trapping  we  will  catch 
enough  to  make  up  the  number  we  set  out 
to  get/' 

This  plan  seemed  good  to  me,  and  I  said 
so  at  once.  We  left  the  traps  on  the  trail 
and  started  to  camp,  to  prepare  for  an  early 
start  in  the  morning.  We  decided  to  say 
nothing  to  any  one  of  our  intentions,  to 
White  Wolf  least  of  all,  lest  he  should  for 
bid  our  going. 

At  dusk  we  picketed  near  camp  two  horses 
that  we  selected  for  the  trip,  and  during  the 
evening  we  refilled  our  powder-horns  and 
ball-pouches  to  the  neck.  Rising  the  next 
morning  before  any  of  the  others  were  awake, 
and  each  taking  a  heavy  buffalo-robe  from 
our  bedding,  we  quietly  left  the  lodge,  sad 
dled  and  mounted  our  horses,  and  rode 
away.  Some  dried  meat  and  buffalo  back  fat 
taken  from  the  lodge  furnished  us  a  substan 
tial  breakfast. 

The  trail  was  plain  and  easy  to  follow. 
49 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  picked  up  the  traps,  and  mounting 
steadily,  arrived  at  the  extreme  summit  of 
the  great  range  not  long  after  midday.  From 
where  we  stood,  the  trail  ran  slightly  down 
ward,  along  a  narrow  divide,  across  to  the 
next  mountain.  The  south  side  of  the  divide 
was  a  sheer  drop  of  several  thousand  feet. 
The  top  was  a  narrow,  jagged  knife  of  rock, 
along  which  a  man  could  not  have  passed 
on  foot.  On  the  north  side  the  sharp  reef 
dropped  almost  precipitously  to  a  narrow 
and  exceedingly  steep  slope  of  fine  shale 
rock,  which  terminated  at  the  edge  of  a  pre 
cipice  of  fearful  depth. 

It  was  along  this  shale  slope  that  the  trail 
ran,  but  there  were  no  signs  of  it  now,  for 
the  tracks  of  the  last  horses  that  passed  had 
been  filled.  Even  while  we  stood  there, 
small  particles  of  shale  were  constantly  roll 
ing  and  tinkling  down  it  and  off  into  abys 
mal  space.  Shuddering,  I  proposed  that  we 
turn  back,  but  Pitamakan  made  light  of  the 
danger. 

50 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  I  have  been  here  before,  and  know  what 
to  do,"  he  said.  "  I  can  make  it  so  that  we 
can  safely  cross  it." 

With  a  long,  thin  and  narrow  slab  of  rock 
he  began  gouging  a  trail  out  of  the  steep 
slide.  The  small  and  the  large  pieces  of  de 
tritus  which  he  dislodged  rattled  off  the  edge 
of  the  cliff,  but  strain  my  ears  as  I  might,  I 
could  not  hear  them  strike  bottom.  It  was 
fully  a  hundred  yards  across  this  dangerous 
place,  but  Pitamakan  soon  made  his  way 
along  it,  and  back  to  me. 

His  path  seemed  more  fit  for  coyotes  than 
for  horses,  but  he  insisted  that  it  was  wide 
enough,  and  started  leading  his  animal  out 
on  it.  There  was  nothing  for  me  to  do  but 
to  follow  with  mine.  When  part  way  across, 
my  horse's  hind  feet  broke  down  the  little 
path,  and  he  went  with  the  sliding  shale  for 
several  feet,  all  the  time  madly  pawing  to 
get  back  on  the  sound  portion  on  which  I 
stood.  When  I  tried  to  help  him  by  pulling 
on  the  lead-rope,  the  shale  began  sliding 

5' 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

under  my  feet.  At  that,  Pitamakan,  start 
ing  to  run  with  his  horse,  shouted  to  me  to 
do  the  same. 

For  the  rest  of  the  way  across,  the  strain 
on  me  and  my  animal  was  killing.  We  tore 
out  all  trace  of  the  path  in  our  efforts  to 
keep  from  going  down  and  off  the  slide. 
Wherever  we  put  down  our  feet  the  shale 
started  slipping,  and  the  struggle  to  climb 
faster  than  it  slipped  exhausted  our  strength. 
When  finally  we  did  reach  the  firm  rock 
where  my  companion  stood  waiting,  we  were 
utterly  fatigued  and  dripping  with  sweat. 

Pitamakan's  face  was  ashy  gray  from  the 
strain  of  watching  my  struggles.  He  drew 
me  to  him,  and  I  could  feel  him  trembling, 
while  he  said,  in  a  choking  voice,  "  Oh,  I 
thought  you  would  never  get  here,  and  I 
just  had  to  stand  and  look,  unable  to  help 
you  in  any  way !  I  did  n't  know.  I  should 
have  made  a  wider,  firmer  path." 

We  sat  down,  and  he  told  me  about  this 
pass :  that  after  the  winter  snows  came  neither 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

man  nor  horse  could  cross  it,  since  the  least 
movement  would  start  the  snow  sliding. 
Three  Blackfeet  had  once  lost  their  lives 
there.  In  that  manner,  the  avalanche  which 
they  loosened  had  swept  them  with  it  over 
the  cliff,  to  the  horror  of  their  comrades 
who  stood  looking  on.  Upon  our  return,  he 
said,  he  would  make  a  safe  path  there,  if  it 
took  him  all  day  to  finish  the  task. 

Soon  we  went  on,  turned  the  shoulder  of 
the  twin  mountain,  and  felt  that  we  had 
come  into  another  world.  Near  by  there 
were  some  tremendous  peaks,  some  of  them 
covered  with  great  fields  of  ice,  which  I 
learned  later  were  true  glaciers. 

In  other  ways,  too,  this  west  side  was  dif 
ferent  from  the  east  side  of  the  Rockies.  As 
far  as  we  could  see  there  were  no  plains, 
only  one  great,  dark,  evergreen  forest  that 
covered  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  and  filled 
the  endless  valleys.  Here,  too,  the  air  was 
different ;  it  was  damp  and  heavy,  and  odor 
ous  of  plants  that  grow  in  moist  climates. 

53 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Working  our  way  from  ledge  to  ledge 
down  the  mountain,  we  came,  toward  sun 
set,  to  what  my  friend  called  the  Salt  Springs. 
Farther  west  than  this  point  he  had  never 
been. 

Early  the  next  morning  we  pushed  on, 
for  we  were  anxious  to  reach  the  low  val 
leys  where  the  beavers  were  to  be  found. 

Still  following  the  trail,  we  struck,  about 
mid-afternoon,  a  large  stream  bordered  with 
alder,  cottonwood,  and  willow,  the  bark  of 
which  is  the  beaver's  favorite  food.  There 
were  some  signs  of  the  animals  here,  but  as 
we  expected  to  find  them  more  plentiful 
farther  down,  we  kept  on  until  nearly  sun 
down,  when  we  came  to  a  fine  grass  meadow 
bordering  the  now  larger  river.  Here  was 
feed  for  the  horses;  in  a  pond  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  meadow  there  were  five  beaver 
lodges. 

"Here  is  the  place  for  us,"  said  Pitama- 
kan.  "Let  us  hurry  and  picket  the  horses, 
and  kill  a  deer;  night  is  at  hand." 

54 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  started  to  ride  into  the  timber  to  un 
saddle,  when  we  heard  a  heavy  trampling 
and  crackling  of  sticks  off  to  the  left  of  the 
beaver-pond,  and  so  sat  still,  rifles  ready,  ex 
pecting  to  see  a  band  of  elk  come  into  the 
open. 

A  moment  later  thirty  or  forty  Indians, 
men,  women,  and  children,  rode  into  the 
meadow.  Perceiving  us,  the  men  whipped 
up  their  horses  and  came  racing  our  way. 

"They  are  Kootenays !  It  is  useless  to 
fire  at  them,  or  to  run  !  "  Pitamakan  ex 
claimed.  "  I  do  not  think  they  will  harm 
us.  Anyhow,  look  brave  ;  pretend  that  you 
are  not  afraid." 

The  men  who  surrounded  us  were  tall 
and  powerfully  built.  For  what  seemed  to 
me  an  endless  time,  they  sat  silently  staring, 
and  noting  every  detail  of  our  outfit.  There 
was  something  ominous  in  their  behavior; 
there  came  to  me  an  almost  uncontrollable 
impulse  to  make  a  move  of  some  kind.  It 
was  their  leader  who  broke  the  suspense. 

SS 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

" In-is-saht !  "  (Dismount !)  he  commanded, 
in  Blackfoot,  and  we  reluctantly  obeyed. 

At  that  they  all  got  off  their  horses,  and 
then  at  word  from  the  chief,  each  crowd 
ing  and  pushing  to  be  first,  they  stripped  us 
of  everything  we  had.  One  man  got  my 
rifle ;  another  the  ammunition ;  another 
snatched  off  my  belt,  with  its  knife,  and  the 
little  pouch  containing  flint,  steel,  and  punk, 
while  the  chief  and  another,  who  seemed  to 
be  a  great  warrior,  seized  the  ropes  of  our 
horses.  And  there  we  were,  stripped  of 
everything  that  we  possessed  except  the 
clothes  we  stood  in. 

At  that  the  chief  broke  out  laughing,  and 
so  did  the  rest.  Finally,  commanding  silence, 
he  said  to  us,  in  very  poor  Blackfoot :  — 

"As  you  are  only  boys,  we  will  not  kill 
you.  Return  to  your  chief,  and  tell  him  that 
we  keep  our  beaver  for  ourselves,  just  as  the 
plains  people  keep  the  buffalo  for  them 
selves.  Now  go/' 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  obey  him, 
56 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  we  started.  One  man  followed  us  a  few 
steps,  and  struck  Pitamakan  several  blows 
across  the  back  with  his  whip.  At  that  my 
friend  broke  out  crying ;  not  because  of  the 
pain,  but  because  of  the  terrible  humiliation. 
To  be  struck  by  any  one  was  the  greatest  of 
all  insults ;  and  my  friend  was  powerless  to 
resent  it. 

Looking  back,  we  saw  the  Kootenays 
move  on  through  the  meadow  and  disappear 
in  the  timber.  Completely  dazed  by  our 
great  misfortune,  we  mechanically  took  our 
back  trail,  and  seldom  speaking,  walked  on 
and  on.  When  night  came,  rain  began  to 
fall  and  the  wind  rose  to  a  gale  in  the  tree- 
tops.  At  that  Pitamakan  shook  his  head,  and 
said,  dejectedly,  "At  this  season  rain  down 
here  means  snow  up  on  top.  We  must  make 
strong  medicine  if  we  are  ever  to  see  our 
people  again." 

Hungry  and  without  food  or  weapons  for 
killing  any  game,  wet  and  without  shelter 
or  any  means  of  building  a  fire,  we  certainly 

57 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

were  in  a  terrible  plight.  Worse  still,  if  it 
was  snowing  on  the  summit,  if  winter  had 
really  set  in,  we  must  inevitably  perish.  I 
remembered  hearing  the  old  trappers  say 
that  winter  often  began  in  October  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains;  and  this  day  was  well  on 
in  November !  "  Pitamakan  !  We  are  not 
going  to  survive  this!"  I  cried. 

For  answer,  he  began  singing  the  coyote 
song,  the  Blackfoot  hunter's  prayer  for  good 
luck.  It  sounded  weird  and  melancholy 
enough  there  in  the  darkening  forest. 


CHAPTER   III 

THERE!   Something  tells    me  that 
will  bring  us  good  luck,"  said  Pita- 
makan,  when  he  had  finished  the 
medicine  song.  "  First  of  all,  we  must  find 
shelter   from   the  rain.    Let  us  hurry  and 
search  for  it  up  there  along  the  foot  of  the 
cliffs." 

Leaving  the  trail,  we  pushed  our  way  up 
the  steep  slope  of  the  valley,  through  under 
brush  that  dropped  a  shower  of  water  on  us 
at  the  slightest  touch.  There  were  only  a 
few  hundred  yards  between  us  and  the  foot 
of  the  big  wall  which  shot  high  above  the 
tops  of  the  pines,  but  by  the  time  we  arrived 
there  night  had  fairly  come.  At  this  point 
a  huge  pile  of  boulders  formed  the  upper 
edge  of  the  slope,  and  for  a  moment  we  stood 
undecided  which  way  to  turn.  "Toward 
home,  of  course ! "  Pitamakan  exclaimed, 
and  led  the  way  along  the  edge  of  the  bould- 

59 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ers,  and  finally  to  the  cliff.  There  in  front 
of  us  was  a  small,  jagged  aperture,  and  stoop 
ing  down,  we  tried  to  see  what  it  was  like 
inside.  The  darkness,  however,  was  impen 
etrable. 

I  could  hear  my  companion  sniffing ;  soon 
he  asked,  "  Do  you  smell  anything?" 

But  I  could  detect  no  odor  other  than  that 
of  the  dank  forest  floor,  and  said  so. 

"Well,  I  think  that  I  smell  bear!"  he 
whispered,  and  we  both  leaped  back,  and 
then  stealthily  drew  away  from  the  place. 
But  the  rain  was  falling  now  in  a  heavy 
downpour ;  the  rising  wind  lashed  it  in  our 
faces  and  made  the  forest  writhe  and  creak 
and  snap.  Every  few  moments  some  old  dead 
pine  went  down  with  a  crash.  It  was  a  terri 
ble  night. 

"  We  can't  go  on ! "  said  Pitamakan.  "  Per 
haps  I  was  mistaken.  Bears  do  not  lie  down 
for  their  winter  sleep  until  the  snow  has  cov 
ered  up  their  food.  We  must  go  back  and  take 
our  chance  of  one  being  there  in  that  hole." 

60 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  felt  our  way  along  the  foot  of  the 
cliff  until  we  came  to  the  place.  There  we 
knelt  down,  hand  in  hand,  sniffed  once  more, 
and  exclaimed,  ''Kyaiyo!"  (Bear!) 

"But  not  strong;  only  a  little  odor,  as  if 
one  had  been  here  last  winter/'  Pitamakan 
added.  "  The  scent  of  one  sticks  in  a  place 
a  long  time." 

Although  I  was  shivering  so  much  from 
the  cold  and  wet  that  my  teeth  rattled,  I 
managed  to  say,  "  Come  on!  We've  got  to 
go  in  there." 

Crawling  inch  by  inch,  feeling  of  the 
ground  ahead,  and  often  stopping  to  sniff 
the  air  and  listen,  we  made  our  cautious  way 
inside,  and  presently  came  to  a  fluffy  heap 
of  dried  grass,  small  twigs  and  leaves  that 
rustled  at  our  touch. 

"Ah,  we  survive,  brother!"  Pitamakan 
exclaimed,  in  a  cheerful  voice.  "The  bear 
has  been  here  and  made  himself  a  bed  for 
the  winter ;  they  always  do  that  in  the  month 
of  falling  leaves.  He  is  n't  here  now,  though, 

61 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  if  he  does  come  we  will  yell  loud  and 
scare  him  away." 

Feeling  round  now  to  learn  the  size  of  the 
place,  we  found  that  it  was  small  and  low,  and 
sloped  to  the  height  of  a  couple  of  feet  at  the 
back.  Having  finished  the  examination,  we 
burrowed  down  into  the  grass  and  leaves,  snug 
gled  close  together,  and  covered  ourselves  as 
well  as  we  could.  Little  by  little  we  stopped 
shivering,  and  after  a  while  felt  comfortably 
warm,  although  wet. 

We  fell  to  talking  then  of  our  misfortune, 
and  planning  various  ways  to  get  out  of  the 
bad  fix  we  were  in.  Pitamakan  was  all  for  fol 
lowing  the  Kootenays,  stealing  into  their 
camp  at  night,  and  trying  to  recover  not  only 
our  horses,  but,  if  possible,  our  rifles  also.  I 
made  the  objection  that  even  if  we  got  a 
whole  night's  start  of  the  Kootenays,  they, 
knowing  the  trails  better  than  we  did,  would 
overtake  us  before  we  could  ride  to  the  sum 
mit.  We  finally  agreed  to  follow  the  trail  of 
our  enemies  and  have  a  look  at  their  camp ; 

62 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

we  might  find  some  way  of  getting  back  what 
they  had  taken. 

We  really  slept  well.  In  the  morning  I 
awoke  first,  and  looking  out,  saw  nothing 
but  thick,  falling  snow.  I  nudged  my  com 
panion,  and  together  we  crept  to  the  mouth 
of  the  cave.  The  snow  was  more  than  a  foot 
deep  in  front  of  us,  and  falling  so  fast  that 
only  the  nearest  of  the  big  pines  below  could 
be  seen.  The  weather  was  not  cold,  certainly 
not  much  below  freezing,  but  it  caused  our 
damp  clothing  to  feel  like  ice  against  the 
skin.  We  crept  back  into  our  nest,  shivering 
again. 

"With  this  snow  on  the  ground,  it  would 
be  useless  to  try  to  take  anything  from  the 
Kootenays,"  I  said. 

"True  enough.  They  could  follow  our 
tracks  and  easily  overtake  us,"  Pitamakan 
agreed. 

As  he  said  no  more  for  a  long  time,  and 
would  not  even  answer  when  I  asked  a  ques 
tion,  I,  too,  became  silent.  But  not  for  long ; 

63 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

so  many  fears  and  doubts  were  oppressing 
me  that  I  had  to  speak.  "  We  had  better  start 
on,  then,  and  try  to  cross  the  summit/' 

Pitamakan  shook  his  head  slowly.  "  Nei 
ther  we  nor  any  one  else  will  cross  the  sum 
mit  until  summer  comes  again.  This  is  win 
ter.  See,  the  snow  is  almost  to  our  knees  out 
there;  up  on  top  it  is  over  our  heads/' 

"  Then  we  must  die  right  here !  "  I  ex 
claimed. 

For  answer,  my  partner  began  the  coyote 
prayer  song,  and  kept  singing  it  over  and 
over,  except  when  he  would  break  out  into 
prayers  to  the  sun,  and  to  Old  Man  —  the 
World-Maker  —  to  give  us  help.  There  in 
the  low  little  cave  his  song  sounded  muffled 
and  hollow  enough.  Had  I  not  been  watch 
ing  his  face,  I  must  have  soon  begged  him 
to  stop,  it  was  so  mournful  and  depress 
ing. 

But  his  face  kept  brightening  and  bright 
ening  until  he  actually  smiled ;  and  finally  he 
turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Do  not  worry,  bro- 

64 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ther.  Take  courage.  They  have  put  new 
thoughts  into  me." 

I  asked  what  the  thoughts  were,  and  he 
replied  by  asking  what  we  most  needed. 

"  Food,  of  course,"  I  said.  "  I  am  weak 
from  hunger." 

"  I  thought  you  would  say  that !  "  he  ex 
claimed.  "  It  is  always  food  with  white  peo 
ple.  Get  up  in  the  morning  and  eat  a  big 
meal;  at  midday,  another;  at  sunset,  another. 
If  even  one  of  these  is  missed,  they  say  they 
are  starving.  No,  brother,  we  do  not  most 
need  food.  We  could  go  without  it  half  a 
moon  and  more,  and  the  long  fast  would  only 
do  us  good." 

I  did  not  believe  that.  It  was  the  common 
belief  in  those  times  that  a  person  could  live 
for  only  a  few  days  without  food. 

"  No,  it  is  not  food ;  it  is  fire  that  we  most 
need,"  Pitamakan  continued.  "  Were  we  to 
go  out  in  that  snow  and  get  wet  and  then 
have  no  means  of  drying  and  warming  our 
selves,  we  should  die." 

65 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  Well,  then,  we  must  just  lie  here  and 
wait  for  the  snow  to  melt  away/'  I  said,  "for 
without  flint  and  steel  we  can  have  no  fire." 

"  Then  we  will  lie  here  until  next  sum 
mer.  This  country  is  different  from  ours  of 
the  plains.  There  the  snow  comes  and  goes 
many  times  during  the  winter ;  here  it  only 
gets  deeper  and  deeper,  until  the  sun  beats 
Cold-Maker,  and  comes  north  again." 

I  believed  that  to  be  true,  for  I  remem 
bered  that  my  uncle  had  told  me  once  that 
there  were  no  chinook  winds  on  the  west  side 
of  the  range.  So  I  proposed  what  had  been 
on  my  mind  for  some  time :  that  we  go  to 
the  camp  of  the  Kootenays  and  beg  them  to 
give  us  shelter. 

"  If  they  didn't  kill  us,  they  would  only 
beat  us  and  drive  us  away.  No,  we  cannot  go 
to  them,"  said  Pitamakan  decidedly.  "Now 
don't  look  so  sad ;  we  shall  have  fire." 

He  must  have  read  my  thoughts,  for  he 
added,  "  I  see  that  you  don't  believe  that 
I  can  make  fire.  Listen !  Before  you  white 

66 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

people  came  with  your  flints  and  steels,  we 
had  it.  Old  Man  himself  taught  us  how  to 
make  it.  I  have  never  seen  it  made  in  the  old 
way  because  my  people  got  the  new  way  be 
fore  I  was  born.  But  I  have  often  heard  the 
older  ones  tell  how  it  used  to  be  made,  and 
I  believe  that  I  can  do  it  myself.  It  is  easy. 
You  take  a  small,  dry,  hard  stick  like  an 
arrow-shaft,  and  twirl  it  between  the  palms 
of  your  hands,  or  with  a  bowstring,  while  the 
point  rests  in  a  hole  in  a  piece  of  dry  wood, 
with  fine  shreds  of  birch  bark  in  it.  The 
twirling  stick  heats  these  and  sets  them  on 
fire." 

Although  I  did  not  understand  this  ex 
planation  very  well,  I  yet  had  some  faith  that 
Pitamakan  could  make  the  fire.  He  added 
that  he  would  not  try  it  until  the  weather 
cleared,  and  we  could  go  round  in  the  timber 
without  getting  wet  except  from  the  knees 
down. 

We  lay  there  in  the  bear's  bed  all  that  day. 
At  sunset  the  snow  ceased  falling,  but  when 

67 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  clouds  disappeared,  the  weather  turned 
much  colder,  and  it  was  well  for  us  that  the 
heat  of  our  bodies  had  pretty  thoroughly 
dried  our  clothing.  As  it  was,  we  shivered  all 
through  the  night,  and  were  very  miserable. 

Out  in  the  darkness  we  heard  some  animal 
scraping  through  the  snow,  and  feared  that  it 
might  be  the  bear  come  to  get  into  its  bed. 
We  had  talked  about  that.  If  it  was  a  black 
bear,  we  were  safe  enough,  because  they  are 
the  most  cowardly  of  all  animals,  and  even 
when  wounded,  will  not  attack  a  man.  But 
what  if  it  were  a  big  grizzly !  We  both  knew 
tales  enough  of  their  ferocity.  Only  that 
summer  a  woman,  picking  berries,  had  been 
killed  by  one. 

So  when  we  heard  those  soft  footsteps  we 
yelled ;  stopped  and  listened,  and  yelled  again, 
and  again,  until  we  were  hoarse.  Then  we 
listened.  All  was  still.  Whatever  had  roused 
us  was  gone,  but  fear  that  a  grizzly  would 
come  shuffling  in  kept  us  awake. 

Day  came  long  before  the  sun  rose  above 
68 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  tremendous  peaks  that  separated  us  from 
the  plains.  Much  as  we  ached  to  crawl  out 
of  the  cave  and  run  and  jump,  we  lay  still 
until  the  sun  had  warmed  the  air  a  bit.  The 
night  before  I  had  been  ravenously  hungry ; 
but  now  my  hunger  had  largely  passed,  and 
Pitamakan  said  that  I  would  soon  forget  all 
about  food. 

"But  we  can't  live  all  winter  without  eat 
ing  !"  I  objected. 

"  Of  course  not,"  he  replied.  "  As  soon  as 
we  have  fire,  we  will  go  hunting  and  kill 
game.  Then  we  will  make  us  a  comfortable 
lodge.  Oh,  we  're  going  to  be  very  com 
fortable  here  before  many  days  pass." 

"  But  the  Kootenays !  "  I  objected.  "They 
will  come  again  and  drive  us  on,  or  kill 
us!" 

"  Just  now  they  are  moving  out  of  the 
mountains  as  fast  as  they  can  go,  and  will 
not  return  until  summer  comes  again." 

When  we  finally  crawled  out  after  our 
long  rest,  we  saw  that  a  bear  really  had  been 

69 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

near  us  in  the  night.  It  had  come  walking 
along  the  slope,  close  to  the  foot  of  the  cliff, 
until  right  in  front  of  the  cave,  and  then, 
startled,  no  doubt,  by  our  yells,  had  gone 
leaping  straight  down  into  the  timber.  The 
short  impressions  of  its  claws  in  the  snow 
proved  it  to  have  been  a  black  bear.  We 
were  glad  of  that ;  another  night,  fear,  at 
least,  would  not  prevent  us  from  sleeping. 

Both  of  us  were  clothed  for  summer  hunt 
ing,  I  in  buckskin  trousers  and  flannel  shirt, 
with  no  underclothing  or  socks.  Pitamakan 
wore  buffalo  cow-leather  leggings,  breech- 
clout,  and,  fortunately,  a  shirt  like  mine 
that  his  aunt  had  given  him.  Neither  of  us 
had  coat  or  waistcoat,  but  in  place  of  them, 
capotes,  hooded  coats  reaching  to  our  knees, 
made  of  white  blanket  by  the  tailor  at  the 
fort.  The  snow  looked  very  cold  to  step 
into  with  only  thin  buckskin  moccasins  on 
our  feet,  and  I  said  so. 

"We  will  remedy  that,"  said  Pitamakan. 
He  pulled  off  his  capote,  tore  a  couple  of 

70 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

strips  from  the  skirt  of  it,  and  then  did  the 
same  with  mine.  With  these  we  wrapped 
our  feet,  pulled  our  moccasins  on  over  them, 
and  felt  that  our  toes  were  frost-proof. 

The  snow  was  knee-deep.  Stepping  into 
it  bravely,  we  made  our  way  down  the  slope 
and  into  the  timber.  There  it  was  not  so 
deep,  for  a  part  of  the  fall  had  lodged  in  the 
thick  branches  of  the  pines.  We  came  upon 
the  tracks  of  deer  and  elk,  and  presently  saw 
a  fine  white-tail  buck  staring  curiously  at  us. 
The  sight  of  his  rounded,  fat  body  brought 
the  hungry  feeling  back  to  me,  and  I  ex 
pressed  it  with  a  plaintive  t€Hai~ya6{"  of 
longing. 

Pitamakan  understood.  "  Never  mind," 
he  said,  as  the  animal  broke  away,  waving 
its  broad  flag  as  if  in  derision.  "  Never  mind. 
We  will  be  eating  fat  ribs  to-morrow,  per 
haps;  surely  on  the  next  day." 

That  talk  seemed  so  big  to  me  that  I  said 
nothing,  asked  no  question,  as  we  went  on 
down  the  hill.  Before  reaching  the  river  we 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

saw  several  more  deer,  a  lone  bull  moose 
and  a  number  of  elk ;  the  valley  was  full  of 
game,  driven  from  the  high  mountains  by 
the  storm. 

The  river  was  not  frozen,  nor  was  there 
any  snow  on  the  low,  wet,  rocky  bars  to 
hinder  our  search  for  a  knife.  That  was 
what  we  were  to  look  for,  just  as  both  Pit- 
amakan's  and  my  own  ancestors  had  searched, 
in  prehistoric  times,  for  sharp-edged  tools  in 
glacial  drift  and  river  wash.  I  was  to  look 
for  flint  and  "  looks-like-ice  rock,"  as  the 
Blackfeet  call  obsidian.  As  I  had  never  seen 
any  obsidian,  except  in  the  form  of  very 
small,  shiny  arrow-points,  it  was  not  strange 
that  Pitamakan  found  a  nodule  of  it  on  a  bar 
that  I  had  carefully  gone  over.  It  was  some 
what  the  shape  of  a  football,  rusty  black, 
and  coated  with  splotches  of  stuff  that  looked 
like  whitewash.  I  could  not  believe  that  it 
was  what  we  sought  until  he  cracked  it  open 
and  I  saw  the  glittering  fragments. 

Pitamakan  had  never  seen  any  flint  or 
72 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

obsidian  flaked  and  chipped  into  arrow- 
points  and  knives,  but  he  had  often  heard 
the  old  people  tell  how  it  was  done,  and 
now  he  tried  to  profit  by  the  information. 
With  a  small  stone  for  a  hammer,  he  gently 
tapped  one  of  the  fragments,  and  succeeded 
in  splintering  it  into  several  thin,  sharp- 
edged  flakes.  Carefully  taking  up  all  the 
fragments  and  putting  them  at  the  foot  of  a  tree 
for  future  use,  we  went  in  search  of  material 
for  the  rest  of  the  fire-making  implements. 
We  knew  from  the  start  that  finding  them 
would  not  be  easy,  for  before  the  snow  came, 
rain  had  thoroughly  soaked  the  forest,  and 
what  we  needed  was  bone-dry  wood.  We 
had  hunted  for  an  hour  or  more,  when  a 
half-dozen  ruffed  grouse  flushed  from  under 
the  top  of  a  fallen  tree  and  flew  up  into  the 
branches  of  a  big  fir,  where  they  sat  and 
craned  their  necks.  Back  came  my  hungry 
feeling;  here  was  a  chance  to  allay  it. 
"  Come  on,  let 's  get  some  stones  and  try  to 
kill  those  birds ! "  I  cried. 

73 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Away  we  went  to  the  shore  of  the  river, 
gathered  a  lot  of  stones  in  the  skirts  of  our 
capotes,  and  hurried  back  to  the  tree.  The 
birds  were  still  there,  and  we  began  throw 
ing  at  the  one  lowest  down.  We  watched 
the  course  of  each  whizzing  stone  with  in 
tense  eagerness,  groaning,  "Ai-ya!"  when 
it  went  wide  of  the  mark.  Unlike  white 
boys,  Indian  youths  are  very  inexpert  at 
throwing  stones,  for  the  reason  that  they 
constantly  carry  a  better  weapon,  the  bow, 
and  begin  at  a  very  early  age  to  hunt  small 
game  with  it.  I  could  cast  the  stones  much 
more  accurately  than  Pitamakan,  and  soon 
he  handed  what  he  had  left  to  me. 

Although  I  made  some  near  shots,  and 
sent  the  stones  clattering  against  the  branches 
and  zipping  through  the  twigs,  the  bird 
never  once  moved,  except  to  flutter  a  wing 
when  a  missile  actually  grazed  it  or  struck 
the  limb  close  to  its  feet.  With  the  last  stone 
of  the  lot  I  hit  a  grouse,  and  as  it  started 
fluttering  down  we  made  a  rush  for  the  foot 

74 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

of  the  tree,  whooping  wildly  over  our  suc 
cess,  and  frightening  the  rest  of  the  covey  so 
that  they  flew  away. 

The  wounded  bird  lodged  for  a  moment 
in  a  lower  branch,  toppled  out  of  that  into 
another,  fluttered  from  that  down  into  clear 
space.  Pitamakan  sprang  to  catch  it,  and 
grasped  only  the  air;  for  the  bird  righted 
itself,  sailed  away  and  alighted  in  the  snow, 
fifty  yards  distant.  We  ran  after  it  as  fast  as 
we  could.  It  was  hurt.  We  could  see  that  it 
had  difficulty  in  holding  up  its  head,  and 
that  its  mouth  was  open.  We  felt  certain  of 
our  meat.  But  no  !  Up  it  got  when  we  were 
about  to  make  our  pounce,  and  half  fluttered 
and  half  sailed  another  fifty  yards  or  so. 
Again  and  again  it  rose,  we  hot  after  it,  and 
finally  it  crossed  the  river.  But  that  did  not 
daunt  us.  The  stream  was  wide  there,  run 
ning  in  a  still  sweep  over  a  long  bar ;  and 
we  crossed,  and  in  our  hurry,  splashed  our 
selves  until  we  were  wet  above  the  waist. 
Then,  after  all,  the  grouse  rose  long  before 

75 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

we  came  anywhere  near  it,  and  this  time 
flew  on  and  on  until  lost  to  sight ! 

Our  disappointment  was  too  keen  to  be 
put  into  words.  Dripping  wet  and  as  miser- 
erable  a  pair  of  boys  as  ever  were,  we  stood 
there  in  the  cold  snow  and  looked  sadly  at 
each  other.  "  Oh,  well,  come  on,"  said  Pit- 
amakan.  "What  is  done  is  done.  We  will 
now  get  the  wood  we  want  and  make  a  fire 
to  dry  ourselves." 

He  led  off,  walked  to  a  half-fallen  fir,  and 
from  the  under  side  broke  off  just  what  we 
were  looking  for  —  a  hard,  dry  spike  about 
twice  the  diameter  of  a  lead-pencil  and  a 
foot  or  more  in  length.  That  did  seem  to 
be  good  luck,  and  our  spirits  rose.  We  went 
out  to  the  shore  of  the  river,  where  I  was 
set  to  rounding  off  the  base  of  the  spike  and 
sharpening  the  point,  first  by  rubbing  it  on 
a  coarse-grained  rock,  and  then  smoothing 
it  with  a  flake  of  obsidian.  I  ruined  the 
edge  of  the  first  piece  by  handling  it  too 
vigorously  ;  the  brittle  stone  had  to  be  forced 

76 


AGAIN    AND    AGAIN   IT  ROSE 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

slowly  and  diagonally  along  the  place  to  be 
cut. 

Pitamakan,  meanwhile,  was  hunting  a 
suitable  piece  of  wood  for  the  drill  to  work 
in.  Hard  wood,  he  had  heard  the  old  people 
say,  was  necessary  for  this,  and  here  the  only 
growth  of  the  kind  was  birch. 

By  the  time  I  got  the  drill  shaped/ he 
had  found  none  that  was  dry,  and  I  was  glad 
to  help  in  the  search,  for  I  was  nearly  frozen 
from  standing  still  so  long  in  my  wet  clothes. 
Up  and  down  the  river  we  went,  and  back 
into  the  forest,  examining  every  birch  that 
appeared  to  be  dead.  Every  one  that  we 
found  was  rotten,  or  only  half  dry.  It  was 
by  the  merest  chance  that  we  found  the 
very  thing  :  a  beaver-cutting  of  birch,  cast 
by  the  spring  freshet  under  a  projecting 
ledge  of  rock,  where  it  was  protected  from 
the  rains.  It  was  almost  a  foot  in  diameter 
and  several  feet  long.  We  rubbed  a  coarse 
stone  against  the  centre  of  it  until  the  place 
was  flat  and  a  couple  of  inches  wide,  and  in 

77 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

that  started  a  small  hole  with  the  obsidian. 
This  was  slow  work,  for  the  glasslike  sub 
stance  constantly  broke  under  the  pressure 
needed  to  make  it  cut  into  the  wood.  It  was 
late  in  the  day  when  the  gouging  was  fin 
ished,  and  we  prepared  to  put  our  tools  to 
the  test. 

This  was  an  occasion  for  prayer.  Pita- 
makan  so  earnestly  entreated  his  gods  to  pity 
us,  to  make  our  work  successful,  and  thus 
save  our  lives,  that,  unsympathetic  as  I  was 
with  his  beliefs,  I  could  not  help  being 
moved.  I  wanted  to  be  stoical ;  to  keep  up 
a  brave  appearance  to  the  last ;  but  this  pa 
thetic  prayer  to  heathen  gods,  coming  as  it 
did  when  I  was  weak  from  hunger  and  ex 
posure,  was  too  much.  To  this  day  I  remem 
ber  the  exact  words  of  it,  too  long*  to  repeat 
here.  I  can  translate  only  the  closing  sen 
tence  :  "  Also,  have  pity  on  us  because  of 
our  dear  people  on  the  other  side  of  the 
range,  who  are  even  now  weeping  in  their 
lodges  because  we  do  not  return  to  them." 

78 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

When  he  had  finished  the  prayer,  Pita- 
makan  took  the  drill  in  the  palms  of  his 
hands  and  set  the  point  of  it  in  the  small, 
rough  hole  in  the  birch.  We  had  already 
gathered  some  dry  birch  bark,  and  I  held 
some  of  it,  shredded  into  a  fluffy  mass,  close 
round  the  drill  and  the  pole. 

"  Now,  fire  come !  "  Pitamakan  exclaimed, 
and  began  to  twirl  the  drill  between  his 
hands,  at  the  same  time  pressing  it  firmly 
down  in  the  hole. 

But  no  smoke  came.  What  was  the  rea 
son  ?  He  stopped  and  raised  the  drill ;  we 
felt  of  it  and  the  hole;  both  were  very  hot, 
and  I  suggested  that  we  take  turns  drilling, 
changing  about  in  the  least  possible  time. 
We  tried  it,  and  oh,  how  anxiously  we 
watched  for  success,  drilling  and  drilling  for 
our  very  lives,  drilling  turn  about  until  our 
muscles  were  so  strained  that  we  could  not  give 
the  stick  another  twirl !  Then  we  dropped 
back  and  stared  at  each  other.  Our  experi 
ment  had  failed.  Night  was  coming  on. 

79 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Our  wet  clothing  was  beginning  to  freeze, 
and  there  was  the  river  between  us  and  the 
shelter  of  our  cave. 

The  outlook  seemed  hopeless,  and  I  said 
so.  Pitamakan  said  nothing ;  his  eyes  had  a 
strange,  vacant  expression.  "  We  can  do  no 
thing,"  I  repeated.  "  Right  here  we  have  to 
die." 

Still  he  did  not  answer,  or  even  look  at 
me,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "He  has  gone 
mad ! " 


CHAPTER  IV 

IF  they  will  not  do,"  Pitamakan  mut 
tered,  rising  stiffly,  while  the  ice  on  his 
leggings  crackled,  "why,  I  '11  cut  off  a 
braid  of  my  hair." 

I  was  now  sure  that  our  troubles  had 
weakened  his  mind ;  no  Indian  in  his  right 
senses  would  think  of  cutting  off  his  hair. 

"  Pitamakan!  What  is  the  trouble  with 
you  ? "  I  asked,  looking  up  anxiously  at  him. 

"Why,  nothing  is  the  matter,"  he  re 
plied.  "  Nothing  is  the  matter.  We  must 
now  try  to  work  the  drill  with  a  bow.  If 
our  moccasin  strings  are  too  rotten  to  bear 
the  strain,  I  '11  have  to  make  a  bow  cord  by 
cutting  off  some  of  my  hair  and  braiding 
it." 

It  was  a  great  relief  to  know  that  he  was 
sane  enough,  but  I  had  little  faith  in  this 
new  plan,  and  followed  listlessly  as  he  went 
here  and  there,  testing  the  branches  of  wil- 

81 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

low  and  birch.  Finally,  he  got  from  the 
river  shore  one  stone  that  was  large  and 
smooth,  and  another  that  had  a  sharp  edge. 
Then,  scraping  the  snow  away  from  the  base 
of  a  birch  shoot  a  couple  of  inches  in  dia 
meter,  he  laid  the  smooth  stone  at  its  base. 
Next  he  bade  me  bend  the  shoot  close  down 
on  the  smooth  stone,  while  with  the  sharp 
edge  of  the  other  he  hit  the  strained  wood 
fibre  a  few  blows.  In  this  way  he  easily  sev 
ered  the  stem.  Cutting  off*  the  top  of  the 
sapling  in  the  same  manner,  he  had  a  bow 
about  three  feet  in  length ;  a  rough,  clumsy 
piece  of  wood,  it  is  true,  but  resilient. 

As  my  moccasin  strings  were  buckskin 
and  much  stronger  than  Pitamakan's  cow- 
leather  ones,  we  used  one  of  mine  for  the 
bowstring.  We  now  carried  the  base  stick 
and  drill  back  from  the  creek  into  the  thick 
timber,  gathered  a  large  bunch  of  birch  bark 
and  a  pile  of  fine  and  coarse  twigs,  and  made 
ready  for  this  last  attempt  to  save  ourselves. 

We  hesitated  to  begin ;  uncertainty  as  to 
82 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  result  was  better  than  sure  knowledge 
of  failure,  but  while  we  waited  we  began  to 
freeze.  It  was  a  solemn  and  anxious  mo 
ment  when  Pitamakan  set  the  point  of  the 
drill  in  the  hole,  made  one  turn  of  the  bow 
string  round  its  centre,  and  held  it  in  place 
by  pressing  down  with  the  palm  of  his  left 
hand  on  the  tip.  With  his  right  hand  he 
grasped  the  bow,  and  waiting  until  I  had  the 
shredded  bark  in  place  round  the  hole,  he 
once  more  started  the  coyote  prayer  song 
and  began  sawing  the  bow  forth  and  back, 
precisely  the  motion  of  a  cross-cut  saw  bit 
ing  into  a  standing  tree. 

The  wrap  of  the  string  caused  the  drill  to 
twirl  with  amazing  rapidity,  and  at  the  third 
or  fourth  saw  he  gave  a  howl  of  pain  and 
dropped  the  outfit.  I  had  no  need  to  ask 
why.  The  drill  tip  had  burned  his  hand; 
when  he  held  it  out  a  blister  was  already 
puffing  up. 

We  changed  places,  and  I  gathered  the 
skirt  of  my  capote  in  a  bunch  to  protect  my 

83 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

hand.  I  began  to  work  the  bow,  faster  and 
faster,  until  the  drill  moaned  intermittently, 
like  a  miniature  buzz-saw.  In  a  moment  or 
two  I  thought  that  I  saw  a  very  faint  streak 
of  smoke  stealing  up  between  my  compan 
ion's  fingers. 

He  was  singing  again,  and  did  not  hear 
my  exclamation  as  I  made  sure  that  my  eyes 
had  not  deceived  me.  Smoke  actually  was 
rising.  I  sawed  harder  and  harder ;  more  and 
more  smoke  arose,  but  there  was  no  flame. 

"Why  not?"  I  cried.  "Oh,  why  don't 
you  burn  ? " 

Pitamakan's  eyes  were  glaring  anxiously, 
greedily  at  the  blue  curling  vapor.  I  contin 
ued  to  saw  with  all  possible  rapidity,  but  still 
there  was  no  flame ;  instead,  the  smoke  be 
gan  to  diminish  in  volume.  A  chill  ran 
through  me  as  I  saw  it  fail. 

I  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up,  of  drop 
ping  the  bow  and  saying  that  this  was  the 
end  of  our  trail,  when  the  cause  of  the  failure 
was  made  plain  to  me.  Pitamakan  was  press- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ing  the  shredded  bark  too  tight  round  the 
drill  and  into  the  hole ;  there  could  be  no 
fire  where  there  was  no  air.  "Raise  your 
fingers  !  "  I  shouted.  "  Loosen  up  the  bark  ! " 

I  had  to  repeat  what  I  said  before  he  un 
derstood  and  did  as  he  was  told.  Instantly 
the  bark  burst  into  flame. 

"  Fire !  Fire  !  Fire  !  "  I  cried,  as  I  hastily 
snatched  out  the  drill. 

"  I-pub-kwi-is  !  I-puh-kwi-is  !  "  (It  burns  ! 
It  burns  !)  Pitamakan  shouted. 

He  held  a  big  wad  of  bark  to  the  tiny 
flame,  and  when  it  ignited,  carried  the  blaz 
ing,  sputtering  mass  to  the  pile  of  fuel  that 
we  had  gathered  and  thrust  it  under  the  fine 
twigs.  These  began  to  crackle  and  snap,  and 
we  soon  had  a  roaring  fire.  Pitamakan  raised 
his  hands  to  the  sky  and  reverently  gave 
thanks  to  his  gods ;  I  silently  thanked  my 
own  for  the  mercy  extended  to  us.  From 
death,  at  least  by  freezing,  we  were  saved  ! 

The  sun  was  setting.  In  the  gathering 
dusk  we  collected  a  huge  pile  of  dead  wood, 

85 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

every  piece  in  the  vicinity  that  we  had 
strength  to  lift  and  carry,  some  of  them 
fallen  saplings  twenty  and  thirty  feet  long. 
I  was  for  putting  a  pile  of  them  on  the  fire 
and  having  a  big  blaze.  I  did  throw  on 
three  or  four  large  chunks,  but  Pitamakan 
promptly  lifted  them  off. 

"That  is  the  way  of  white  people  !  "  he 
said.  "  They  waste  wood  and  stand,  half 
freezing,  away  back  from  the  big  blaze. 
Now  we  will  have  this  in  the  way  we  Lone 
People  do  it,  and  so  will  we  get  dry  and 


warm." 


While  I  broke  off  boughs  of  feathery  bal 
sam  fir  and  brought  in  huge  armfuls  of  them, 
he  set  up  the  frame  of  a  small  shelter  close 
to  the  fire.  First,  he  placed  a  triangle  of 
heavy  sticks,  so  that  the  stubs  of  branches  at 
their  tops  interlocked,  and  then  he  laid  up 
numerous  sticks  side  by  side,  and  all  slanting 
together  at  the  top,  so  as  to  fill  two  sides  of 
the  triangle.  These  we  shingled  with  the  fir 
boughs,  layer  after  layer,  to  a  thickness  of 

86 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

several  feet.  With  the  boughs,  also,  we  made 
a  soft  bed  within. 

We  now  had  a  fairly  comfortable  shelter. 
In  shape  it  was  roughly  like  the  half  of  a 
hollow  cone,  and  the  open  part  faced  the  fire. 
Creeping  into  it,  we  sat  on  the  bed,  close 
to  the  little  blaze.  Some  cold  air  filtered 
through  the  bough  thatching  and  chilled  our 
backs.  Pitamakan  pulled  off  his  capote  and 
told  me  to  do  the  same.  Spreading  them  out, 
he  fastened  them  to  the  sticks  of  the  slant 
ing  roof  and  shut  off  the  draft.  The  heat 
radiating  from  the  fire  struck  them,  and 
reflecting,  warmed  our  backs.  The  ice 
dropped  from  our  clothes  and  they  began  to 
steam ;  we  were  actually  comfortable. 

But  now  that  the  anxieties  and  excite 
ment  of  the  day  were  over,  and  I  had  time 
to  think  about  other  things  than  fire,  back 
came  my  hunger  with  greater  insistence  than 
ever.  I  could  not  believe  it  possible  for  us  to 
go  without  eating  as  long  as  Pitamakan  said 
his  people  were  able  to  fast.  Worse  still,  I 

8? 


.  With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

saw  no  possible  way  for  us  to  get  food.  When 
I  said  as  much  to  Pitamakan,  he  laughed. 

"Take  courage;  don't  be  an  afraid  per 
son,"  he  said.  "  Say  to  yourself,  *  I  am  not 
hungry/  and  keep  saying  it,  and  soon  it  will 
be  the  truth  to  you.  But  we  will  not  fast 
very  long.  Why,  if  it  were  necessary,  I 
would  get  meat  for  us  this  very  night." 

I  stared  at  him.  The  expression  of  his 
eyes  was  sane  enough.  I  fancied  that  there 
was  even  a  twinkle  of  amusement  in  them. 
If  he  was  making  a  joke,  although  a  sorry 
one,  I  could  stand  it ;  but  if  he  really  meant 
what  he  said,  then  there  could  be  no  doubt 
but  that  his  mind  wandered. 

"  Lie  down  and  sleep,"  I  said.  "  You  have 
worked  harder  than  I,  and  sleep  will  do  you 
good.  I  will  keep  the  fire  going." 

At  that  he  laughed,  a  clear,  low  laugh  of 
amusement  that  was  good  to  hear.  "  Oh,  I 
meant  what  I  said.  I  am  not  crazy.  Now 
think  hard.  Is  there  any  possible  way  for  us 
to  get  food  this  night?" 

88 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  Of  course  there  is  n't,"  I  replied,  after  a 
moment's  reflection.  "Don't  joke  about  the 
bad  fix  we  are  in  ;  that  may  make  it  all  the 
worse  for  us." 

He  looked  at  me  pityingly.  "  Ah,  you  are 
no  different  from  the  rest  of  the  whites. 
True,  they  are  far  wiser  than  we  Lone 
People.  But  take  away  from  them  the  things 
their  powerful  medicine  has  taught  them 
how  to  make,  guns  and  powder  and  ball, 
fire  steels  and  sticks,  knives  and  clothes  and 
blankets  of  hair,  take  from  them  these  things 
and  they  perish.  Yes,  they  die  where  we 
should  live,  and  live  comfortably." 

I  felt  that  there  was  much  truth  in  what 
he  said.  I  doubted  if  any  of  the  company's 
men,  even  the  most  experienced  of  them, 
would  have  been  able  to  make  a  fire  had 
they  been  stripped  of  everything  that  they 
possessed.  But  his  other  statement,  that  if 
necessary  he  could  get  food  for  us  at  once. 

"  Where  could  you  find  something  for  us 
to  eat  now?"  I  asked. 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  Out  there  anywhere/'  he  replied,  with 
a  wave  of  the  hand.  "  Have  n't  you  noticed 
the  trails  of  the  rabbits,  hard-packed  little 
paths  in  the  snow,  where  they  travel  round 
through  the  brush  ?  Yes,  of  course  you  have. 
Well,  after  the  middle  of  the  night,  when 
the  moon  rises  and  gives  some  light,  I  could 
go  out  there  and  set  some  snares  in  those 
paths,  using  our  moccasin  strings  for  loops, 
and  in  a  short  time  we  would  have  a  rabbit ; 
maybe  two  or  three  of  them." 

How  easy  a  thing  seems,  once  you  know 
how  to  do  it !  I  realized  instantly  that  the 
plan  was  perfectly  feasible,  and  wondered  at 
my  own  dullness  in  not  having  thought 
of  it.  I  had  been  sitting  up  stiffly  enough 
before  the  fire,  anxiety  over  our  situation  keep 
ing  my  nerves  all  a-quiver.  Now  a  pleasant 
sense  of  security  came  to  me.  I  felt  only  tired 
and  sleepy,  and  dropped  back  on  the  boughs. 

"  Pitamakan,  you  are  very  wise,"  I  said, 
and  in  a  moment  was  sound  asleep.  If  he 
answered  I  never  heard  him. 

90 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Every  time  the  fire  died  down  the  cold 
awoke  one  or  both  of  us  to  put  on  fresh  fuel ; 
and  then  we  slept  again,  and  under  the  cir 
cumstances,  passed  a  very  restful  night. 

Soon  after  daylight  snow  began  to  fall 
again,  not  so  heavily  as  in  the  previous  storm, 
but  with  a  steadiness  that  promised  a  long 
period  of  bad  weather.  We  did  not  mind 
going  out  into  it,  now  that  we  could  come 
back  to  a  fire  at  any  time  and  dry  ourselves. 

Before  setting  forth,  however,  we  spent 
some  time  in  making  two  rude  willow 
arrows.  We  mashed  off  the  proper  lengths 
with  our  "  anvil "  and  cutting-stone,  smoothed 
the  ends  by  burning  them,  and  then  scraped 
the  shafts  and  notched  them  with  our  ob 
sidian  knives.  I  proposed  that  we  sharpen 
the  points,  but  Pitamakan  said  no ;  that  blunt 
ones  were  better  for  bird  shooting,  because 
they  smashed  the  wing  bones.  Pitamakan 
had  worked  somewhat  on  the  bow  during 
the  evening,  scraping  it  thinner  and  drying 
it  before  the  fire,  so  that  now  it  had  more 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

spring ;  enough  to  get  us  meat,  he  thought. 
The  great  difficulty  would  be  to  shoot  the 
unfeathered,  clumsy  arrows  true  to  the  mark. 
Burying  some  coals  deep  in  the  ashes  to 
make  sure  that  they  would  be  alive  upon  our 
return,  we  started  out.  Close  to  camp,  Pita- 
makan  set  two  rabbit  snares,  using  a  part  of 
our  moccasin  strings  for  the  purpose.  His 
manner  of  doing  this  was  simple.  He  bent  a 
small,  springy  sapling  over  the  rabbit  path, 
and  stuck  the  tip  of  it  under  a  low  branch  of 
another  tree.  Next  he  tied  the  buckskin 
string  to  the  sapling,  so  that  the  noose  end  of 
it  hung  cross-wise  in  the  rabbit  path,  a 
couple  of  inches  above  the  surface  of  it. 
Then  he  stuck  several  feathery  balsam  tips  on 
each  side  of  the  path,  to  hide  the  sides  of 
the  noose  and  prevent  its  being  blown  out 
of  place  by  the  wind.  When  a  passing  rab 
bit  felt  the  loop  tighten  on  its  neck,  its  strug 
gles  would  release  the  tip  of  the  spring-pole 
from  under  the  bough,  and  it  would  be  jerked 
up  in  the  air  and  strangled. 

92 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

From  camp,  we  went  down  the  valley, 
looking  for  grouse  in  all  the  thickest  clumps 
of  young  pines.  Several  rabbits  jumped  up 
ahead  of  us,  snow-white,  big-footed  and 
black-eyed.  Pitamakan  let  fly  an  arrow  at 
one  of  them,  but  it  fell  short  of  the  mark. 

There  were  game  trails  everywhere.  The 
falling  snow  was  fast  filling  them,  so  that  we 
could  not  distinguish  new  tracks  from  old; 
but  after  traveling  a  half-mile  or  so,  we  be 
gan  to  see  the  animals  themselves,  elk  and 
deer,  singly,  and  in  little  bands.  As  we  ap 
proached  a  tangle  of  red  willows,  a  bull,  a 
cow,  and  a  calf  moose  rose  from  the  beds 
they  had  made  in  them.  The  cow  and  calf 
trotted  away,  but  the  bull,  his  hair  all  brist 
ling  forward,  walked  a  few  steps  toward  us, 
shaking  his  big,  broad-horned  head.  The  old 
trappers'  tales  of  their  ferocity  at  this  time  of 
year  came  to  my  mind,  and  I  began  to  look 
for  a  tree  to  climb ;  there  was  none  near  by. 
All  had  such  a  large  circumference  that  I 
could  not  reach  halfway  round  them. 

93 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  Let 's  run  !  "  I  whispered. 

"  Stand  still !  "  Pitamakan  answered.  "  If 
you  run,  he  will  come  after  us." 

The  bull  was  not  more  than  fifty  yards 
from  us.  In  the  dim  light  of  the  forest  his 
eyes,  wicked  little  pig-like  eyes,  glowed  with 
a  greenish  fire.  The  very  shape  of  him  was 
terrifying,  more  like  a  creature  of  bad  dreams 
than  an  actual  inhabitant  of  the  earth.  His 
long  head  had  a  thick,  drooping  upper  lip ; 
a  tassel  of  black  hair  swung  from  his  lower 
jaw ;  at  the  withers  he  stood  all  of  six  feet 
high,  and  sloped  back  to  insignificant  hind 
quarters ;  his  long  hair  was  rusty  gray,  shad 
ing  into  black.  All  this  I  took  in  at  a  glance. 
The  bull  again  shook  his  head  at  us  and 
advanced  another  step  or  two.  "  If  he  starts 
again,  run  for  a  tree,"  Pitamakan  said. 

That  was  a  trying  moment.  We  were  cer 
tainly  much  afraid  of  him,  and  so  would  the 
best  of  the  company  men  have  been  had  they 
stood  there  weaponless  in  knee-deep  snow. 
Once  more  he  tossed  his  enormous  horns ; 

94 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

but  just  as  he  started  to  advance,  a  stick 
snapped  in  the  direction  in  which  the  cow 
and  calf  had  gone.  At  that  he  half  turned 
and  looked  back,  then  trotted  away  in  their 
trail.  The  instant  he  disappeared  we  started 
the  other  way,  and  never  stopped  until  we 
came  to  our  shelter. 

It  was  well  for  us  that  we  did  return  just 
then.  The  falling  snow  was  wetting  the  ash- 
heap,  and  the  water  would  soon  have  soaked 
through  to  the  buried  coals.  We  dug  them 
up  and  started  another  fire,  and  sat  before  it 
for  some  time  before  venturing  out  again. 
This  experience  taught  us,  when  leaving 
camp  thereafter,  to  cover  the  coal-heap  with 
a  roof  of  wood  or  bark. 

"  Well,  come  on !  Let 's  go  up  the  valley 
this  time,  and  see  what  will  happen  to  us 
there,"  said  Pitamakan,  when  we  had  rested. 

Not  three  hundred  yards  above  camp  we 
came  to  a  fresh  bear  trail,  so  fresh  that  only 
a  very  thin  coating  of  snow  had  fallen  since 
the  passing  of  the  animal.  It  led  us  to  the 

95. 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

river,  when  we  saw  that  it  continued  on  the 
other  side  up  to  the  timber,  straight  toward 
the  cave  that  had  sheltered  us.  The  tracks, 
plainly  outlined  in  the  sand  at  the  edge  of 
the  water,  were  those  of  a  black  bear.  "  That 
is  he,  the  one  that  gathered  the  leaves  and 
stuff  we  slept  in,  and  he  's  going  there  now  ! " 
Pitamakan  exclaimed. 

"If  we  only  had  his  carcass,  how  much 
more  comfortable  we  could  be ! "  I  said. 
"The  hide  would  be  warm  and  soft  to  lie 
on,  and  the  fat  meat  would  last  us  a  long 


time." 


"  If  he  goes  into  the  cave  to  stay,  we  '11 
get  him,"  said  Pitamakan.  "If  we  can't 
make  bows  and  arrows  to  kill  him,  we  will 
take  strong,  heavy  clubs  and  pound  him  on 
the  head." 

We  went  up  the  valley.  Trailing  along 
behind  my  companion,  I  thought  over  his 
proposal  to  club  the  bear  to  death.  A  month, 
even  a  few  days  back,  such  a  plan  would  have 
seemed  foolish;  but  I  was  fast  learning  that 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

necessity,  starvation,  will  cause  a  man  to  take 
chances  against  the  greatest  odds.  And 'the 
more  I  thought  about  it,  the  more  I  felt  like 
facing  that  bear. 

I  was  about  to  propose  that  we  go  after  it 
at  once,  when,  with  a  whirr  of  wings  that 
startled  us,  a  large  covey  of  blue  grouse  burst 
from  a  thicket  close  by,  and  alighted  here 
and  there  in  the  pines  and  firs.  We  moved 
on  a  few  steps,  and  stopped  within  short  bow 
shot  of  one.  It  did  not  seem  to  be  alarmed  at 
our  approach,  and  Pitamakan  took  his  time 
to  fit  one  of  the  clumsy  arrows  and  fire  it. 

Zip!  The  shaft  passed  a  foot  from  its 
body,  struck  a  limb  above  and  dropped  down 
into  the  snow.  But  the  grouse  never  moved. 
Anxiously  I  watched  the  fitting  and  aiming 
of  the  other  arrow. 

Zip  !  I  could  not  help  letting  out  a  loud 
yell  when  it  hit  fair  and  the  bird  came  flut 
tering  and  tumbling  down.  I  ran  forward 
and  fell  on  it  the  instant  it  struck  the  snow, 
and  grasped  its  plump  body  with  tense  hands. 

97 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"Meat!  See!  We  have  meat!"  I  cried, 
holding  up  the  fine  cock. 

"  Be  still !  You  have  already  scared  all  the 
other  birds  out  of  this  tree  ! "  said  Pitamakan. 

It  was  true.  There  had  been  three  more 
in  that  fir,  and  now,  because  of  my  shouts, 
they  were  gone.  Pitamakan  looked  at  me  re 
proachfully  as  he  started  to  pick  up  the  fallen 
arrows.  Right,  there  I  learned  a  lesson  in 
self-restraint  that  I  never  forgot. 

We  knew  that  there  were  more  grouse  in 
near-by  trees,  but  they  sat  so  still  and  were 
so  much  the  color  of  their  surroundings  that 
we  were  some  time  in  discovering  any  of 
them.  They  generally  chose  a  big  limb  to 
light  on,  close  to  the  bole  of  the  tree.  Fin 
ally  our  hungry  eyes  spied  three  in  the  next 
tree,  and  Pitamakan  began  shooting  at  the 
lower  one,  while  I  recovered  the  arrows  for 
him. 

Luck  was  against  us.  It  was  nothing,  but 
miss,  miss,  miss,  and  as  one  by  one  the 
arrows  grazed  the  birds,  they  hurtled  away 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

through  the  forest  and  out  of  sight.  We  were 
more  fortunate  a  little  farther  on,  for  we  got 
two  birds  from  a  small  fir.  Then  we  hurried 
to  camp  with  our  prizes. 

I  was  for  roasting  the  three  of  them  at 
once,  and  eating  a  big  feast ;  but  Pitamakan 
declared  that  he  would  not  have  any  such 
doings.  "  We  '11  eat  one  now,"  he  said,"  one  in 
the  evening,  and  the  other  in  the  morning." 

We  were  so  hungry  that  we  could  not 
wait  to  cook  the  first  bird  thoroughly.  Di 
viding  it,  we  half  roasted  the  portions  over 
the  coals,  and  ate  the  partly  raw  flesh.  Al 
though  far  from  enough,  that  was  the  best 
meal  I  ever  had.  And  it  was  not  so  small, 
either;  the  blue  grouse  is  a  large  and  heavy 
bird,  next  to  the  sage-hen  the  largest  of  our 
grouse.  After  eating,  we  went  out  and 
"rustled"  a  good  pile  of  fuel.  As  night 
came  on,  we  sat  down  before  the  blaze  in  a 
cheerful  mood,  and  straightway  began  to 
make  plans  for  the  future,  which  now  seemed 
less  dark  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  day. 

99 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  With  a  better  bow  and  better  arrows,  it 
is  certain  that  we  can  kill  enough  grouse  to 
keep  us  alive,"  I  said. 

"  Not  unless  we  have  snowshoes  to  travel 
on,"  Pitamakan  objected.  "In  a  few  days 
the  snow  will  be  so  deep  that  we  can  no 
longer  wade  in  it." 

"We  can  make  them  of  wood,"  I  sug 
gested,  remembering  the  tale  of  a  company 
man. 

"  But  we  could  n't  travel  about  barefooted. 
Our  moccasins  will  last  only  a  day  or  two 
longer.  One  of  mine,  you  see,  is  already  rip 
ping  along  the  sole.  Brother,  if  we  are  ever 
to  see  green  grass  and  our  people  again,  these 
things  must  we  have  besides  food  —  thread 
and  needles,  skins  for  moccasins,  clothing 
and  bedding,  and  a  warm  lodge.  The  weather 
is  going  to  be  terribly  cold  before  long." 

At  that  my  heart  went  away  down.  I  had 
thought  only  of  food,  forgetting  that  other 
things  were  just  as  necessary.  The  list  of 
them  staggered  me — thread  and  needles, 

100 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

moccasins,  and  all  the  rest !  "  Well,  then,  we 
must  die,"  I  exclaimed,  "  for  we  can  never 
get  all  those  things  ! " 

"  We  can  and  we  will/'  said  Pitamakan, 
cheerfully,  "  and  the  beginning  of  it  all  will 
be  a  better  bow  and  some  real  arrows,  arrows 
with  ice-rock  or  flint  points.  We  will  try  to 
make  some  to-morrow.  Hah!  Listen  !  " 

I  barely  heard  the  plaintive  squall,  but  he 
recognized  it.  "  Come  on,  it 's  a  rabbit  in  one 
of  the  snares !  "  he  cried,  and  out  we  ran  into 
the  brush. 

He  was  right.  A  rabbit,  still  kicking  and 
struggling  for  breath,  was  hanging  in  the 
farther  snare.  Resetting  the  trap,  we  ran, 
happy  and  laughing,  back  to  the  fire  with  the 
prize. 

After  all,  we  ate  two  grouse,  instead  of  one, 
that  evening,  burying  them  under  the  fire, 
and  this  time  letting  them  roast  long  enough 
so  that  the  meat  parted  easily  from  the  bones. 


CHAPTER  V 

MY  grandfather  told  me  that  this  is 
one  way  that  it  was  done,"  said 
Pitamakan,  as  taking  a  flake  of 
obsidian  in  the  palm  of  his  left  hand,  he 
tapped  it  with  an  angular  stone  held  in  his 
right  hand.  "The  other  way  was  to  heat  the 
ice-rock  in  the  fire,  and  then  with  a  grass 
stem  place  a  very  small  drop  of  water  on  the 
part  to  be  chipped  off." 

We  had  been  out  after  flints,  and  finding 
none,  had  brought  back  the  pieces  of  obsid 
ian  that  we  had  placed  at  the  foot  of  the 
tree.  Earlier  in  the  morning,  on  visiting  the 
snares,  we  had  found  a  rabbit  in  each.  They 
hung  now  in  a  tree  near  by,  and  it  was  good 
to  see  them  there;  the  rabbit  remaining  from 
our  first  catch  had  been  broiled  for  our 
breakfast. 

Following  my  partner's  example,  I,  too, 
tried  to  work  a  piece  of  the  obsidian  into 

102 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

an  arrow-point.  The  result  was  that  we 
spoiled  much  of  the  none  too  plentiful  ma 
terial.  It  would  not  chip  where  we  wanted 
it  to,  and  if  we  hit  it  too  hard  a  blow  it 
splintered. 

Deciding  now  to  try  the  fire-and-water 
method,  we  made  for  the  purpose  a  pair  of 
pincers  of  a  green  willow  fork,  and  melted 
a  handful  of  snow  in  a  saucer-shaped  frag 
ment  of  rock.  I  was  to  do  the  heating  of 
the  obsidian  and  Pitamakan  was  to  do  the 
flaking.  He  chose  a  piece  about  an  inch  and 
a  half  long,  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  and 
nearly  triangular  in  shape.  One  edge  was  as 
sharp  as  a  razor ;  the  other  two  were  almost 
square-faced. 

According  to  his  directions,  I  took  the 
fragment  in  the  pincers  by  the  sharp  edge, 
so  as  to  leave  the  rest  free  to  be  worked 
upon.  Gradually  exposing  it  to  the  heat,  I 
held  it  for  a  moment  over  some  coals  freshly 
raked  from  the  fire,  and  then  held  it  before 
him,  while  with  the  end  of  a  pine  needle  he 

103 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

laid  a  tiny  drop  of  water  near  the  lower 
corner,  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  back  from 
the  squared  edge.  There  was  a  faint  hiss  of 
steam,  but  no  apparent  change  in  the  sur 
face  of  the  rock.  We  tried  it  again,  drop 
ping  the  water  in  the  same  place.  Pip  I  A 
small  scale  half  the  size  of  the  little  finger 
nail  snapped  off  and  left  a  little  trough  in 
the  square  edge.  We  both  gave  cries  of  de 
light  ;  it  seemed  that  we  had  hit  on  the 
right  way  to  do  the  work. 

A  little  more  experimenting  showed  that 
the  piece  should  be  held  slanting  downward 
in  the  direction  in  which  the  flaking  was  to 
be  done,  for  the  cold  water  caused  the  rock 
to  scale  in  the  direction  in  which  the  drop 
ran.  In  the  course  of  two  hours  the  rough 
piece  of  obsidian  was  chipped  down  to  a 
small  arrow-point — one  that  Pitamakan's 
grandfather  would  have  scorned,  no  doubt, 
but  a  real  treasure  to  us. 

We  worked  all  that  day  making  the 
points  ;  when  evening  came  we  had  five  that 

104 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

were  really  serviceable.  At  sundown,  the 
weather  having  cleared,  we  went  to  look  at 
the  rabbit-snares.  As  neither  had  been  sprung, 
we  moved  them  to  a  fresh  place.  This  last 
storm  had  added  a  good  deal  to  the  depth  of 
the  snow ;  it  was  so  much  now  above  our 
knees  that  walking  in  it  was  hard  work. 

We  had  now  before  us  a  task  almost  as 
difficult  as  making  the  points ;  that  is,  to  find 
suitable  material  for  our  bows  and  arrows. 
We  found  none  that  evening,  but  the  next 
morning,  after  visiting  the  snares  and  taking 
one  rabbit,  we  stumbled  on  a  clump  of  serv 
ice-berry  treelets,  next  to  ash  the  favorite 
bow-wood  of  the  Blackfeet. 

Back  to  the  camp  we  went,  got  our  "  an 
vil  "  and  hacking-stones,  and  cut  two  straight, 
limbless  stems,  between  two  and  three  inches 
in  diameter.  Next  we  had  a  long  hunt 
through  the  willows  for  straight  arrow-shafts, 
found  them,  and  got  some  coarse  pieces  of 
sandstone  from  the  river  to  use  as  files. 

Two  days  more  were  needed  for  making 
105 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  bows  and  the  arrow-shafts.  The  bows 
were  worked  down  to  the  right  size  and 
shape  only  by  the  hardest  kind  of  sandstone- 
rubbing,  and  by  scraping  and  cutting  with 
obsidian  knives.  But  we  did  not  dare  to  dry 
them  quickly  in  the  fire  for  fear  of  making 
the  wood  brittle,  and  they  had  not  the 
strength  of  a  really  good  weapon. 

We  made  a  good  job  of  the  arrows,  slit 
ting  the  tips,  inserting  the  points,  and  fast 
ening  them  in  place  with  rabbit-sinew  wrap 
pings.  For  the  shafts,  the  grouse  wings 
provided  feathering,  which  was  also  fastened 
in  place  with  the  sinew.  Fortunately  for  us, 
the  rabbit-snares  kept  us  well  supplied  with 
meat,  although  we  were  growing  tired  of 
the  diet. 

Only  one  thing  caused  us  anxiety  now  — 
the  cords  for  our  bows.  We  had  to  use  for 
the  purpose  our  moccasin  strings,  which  were 
not  only  large  and  uneven,  but  weak.  Pita- 
makan  spoke  of  cutting  off  a  braid  of  his 
hair  for  a  cord,  but  on  the  morning  after 

1 06 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  weapons  were  finished,  he  said  that  in 
the  night  his  dream  had  warned  him  not  to 
do  this.  That  settled  it. 

On  this  morning  we  went  early  to  the 
snares  and  found  a  rabbit  hanging  in  each. 
Taking  the  nooses  along  with  the  game  to 
camp,  we  slowly  dried  them  before  the  fire, 
for  they  must  now  serve  as  bowstrings. 
After  they  were  dry  we  tested  one  of  them, 
and  it  broke.  We  knotted  it  together  and 
twisted  it  with  the  other  to  make  a  cord 
for  Pitamakan's  bow.  That  left  me  without 
one,  and  unable  to  string  my  bow  until 
some  large  animal  was  killed  that  would 
furnish  sinew  for  the  purpose.  I  was  by  no 
means  sure  that  the  twisted  and  doubled  cord 
was  strong  enough. 

"You  'd  better  try  it  before  we  start  out," 
I  suggested. 

"No,  we  mustn't  strain  it  any  more  than 
we  can  help,"  Pitamakan  replied ;  and  with 
that  he  led  off  down  the  valley. 

Although  the  sun  shone  brightly,  this 
107 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

was  the  coldest  day  that  we  had  yet  had. 
Had  we  not  worn  rabbit-skins,  with  fur  side 
in,  for  socks,  we  could  not  have  gone  far  from 
the  fire.  The  trees  were  popping  with  frost, 
a  sign  that  the  temperature  was  close  to  zero. 

Soon  after  leaving  camp  we  struck  a  per 
fect  network  of  game  tracks,  some  of  which 
afforded  good  walking  —  when  they  went 
our  way.  For  there  was  no  main  trail  par 
allel  to  the  river,  such  as  the  buffalo  and 
other  game  always  made  along  the  streams 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Rockies.  On  the 
west  side  of  course  there  were  no  buffalo, 
and  probably  never  had  been  any ;  and  to 
judge  from  the  signs,  the  other  animals  wan 
dered  aimlessly  in  every  direction. 

We  went  ahead  slowly  and  noiselessly,  for 
we  hoped  to  see  some  of  the  game  lying 
down,  and  to  get  a  close  shot  before  we 
were  discovered.  Presently  a  covey  of  ruffed 
grouse,  flying  up  out  of  the  snow  into  the 
pines,  afforded  easy  shots ;  but  we  dared  not 
risk  our  arrows  for  fear  of  shattering  the 

108 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

points  against  the  solid  wood.  We  deter 
mined  thereafter  always  to  carry  a  couple 
of  blunt  ones  for  bird  shooting. 

Soon  after  passing  the  grouse,  I  caught  a 
glimpse  of  some  black  thing  that  bobbed 
through  the  snow  into  a  balsam  thicket.  We 
went  over  there  and  came  to  the  trail  of  a 
fisher,  the  largest  member  of  the  weasel 
family.  As  I  had  often  seen  the  large,  glossy 
black  pelts  of  these  animals  brought  into 
the  fort  by  Indians  and  company  trappers,  I 
was  anxious  to  get  a  close  view  of  one  alive. 
I  looked  for  it  farther  along  in  the  snow ; 
but  Pitamakan,  who  was  gazing  up  into  the 
trees,  all  at  once  grasped  my  arm  and  pointed 
at  a  small  red-furred  creature  that,  running 
to  the  end  of  a  long  bough,  leaped  into  the 
next  tree. 

"  Huh  !  Only  a  squirrel !  "  I  said.  But  I 
had  barely  spoken  when,  hot  after  it,  jumped 
the  fisher,  the  most  beautiful,  agile  animal 
that  I  had  ever  seen.  It  was  considerably 
larger  than  a  house  cat. 

109 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  ran,  or  rather  waddled,  as  fast  as  we 
could  to  the  foot  of  the  fir,  barely  in  time 
to  see  the  fisher  spring  into  the  next  tree, 
still  in  pursuit  of  the  squirrel.  The  latter, 
making  a  circle  in  the  branches,  leaped  back 
into  the  tree  over  our  heads.  The  fisher  was 
gaining  on  it,  and  was  only  a  few  feet  be 
hind  its  prey  when,  seeing  us,  it  instantly 
whipped  round  and  went  out  of  that  tree 
into  the  one  beyond,  and  from  that  to  an 
other,  and  another,  until  it  was  finally  lost 
to  sight. 

"Oh,  if  we  could  only  have  got  it!"  I 
cried. 

"  Never  mind,  there  are  plenty  of  them 
here,  and  we  '11  get  some  before  the  winter 
is  over,"  said  my  companion. 

Although  I  had  my  doubts  about  that,  I 
made  no  remark.  Pitamakan  was  promising 
lot  of  things  that  seemed  impossible, — needles 
and  thread,  for  instance.  "  Let 's  go  on,"  I 
said.  "It  is  too  cold  for  us  to  stand  still." 

We  came  now  to  the  red  willow  thicket 
no 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

where  the  bull  moose  had  frightened  us. 
There  a  barely  perceptible  trough  in  the 
new-fallen  snow  marked  where  he  and  his 
family  had  wandered  round  and  retreated, 
quartering  down  the  valley. 

"They  are  not  far  away,  but  I  think  we 
had  better  not  hunt  them  until  we  have  two 
bows,"  Pitamakan  remarked. 

Just  below  the  red  willows  we  saw  our 
first  deer,  a  large,  white-tail  doe,  walking  to 
ward  the  river,  and  stopping  here  and  there 
to  snip  off  tender  tips  of  willow  and  birch. 
We  stood  motionless  while  she  passed  through 
the  open  timber  and  into  a  fir  thicket. 

"  She  is  going  to  lie  down  in  there.  Come 
on,"  said  Pitamakan. 

He  started  toward  the  river  and  I  followed, 
although  I  wondered  why  he  did  n't  go 
straight  to  the  deer  trail.  Finally  I  asked 
him  the  reason,  and  right  there  I  got  a  very 
important  lesson  in  still-hunting. 

"  All  the  animals  of  the  forest  lie  down 
facing  their  back  trail,"  he  explained.  "Some- 

iii 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

times  they  do  more  than  that ;  they  make  a 
circle,  and  coming  round,  lie  down  where 
they  can  watch  their  trail.  If  an  enemy  comes 
along   on  it,  they  lie  close  to  the  ground, 
ears  flattened  back,  until  he  passes  on ;  then 
they  get  up  slowly  and  sneak  quietly  out  of 
hearing,  and  then  run  far  and  fast.   Remem 
ber  this:  never  follow  a  trail  more  than  just 
enough  to  keep  the  direction  the  animal  is 
traveling.    Keep  looking  ahead,  and  when 
you  see  a  likely  place  for  the  animal  to  be 
lying,  a  rise  of  ground,  a   side   hill,  or  a 
thicket,  make  a  circle,  and  approach  it  from 
the  further  side.  If  the  animal  has  n't  stopped, 
you  will  come  to  its  trail ;  but  if  you  find 
no  trail,  go  ahead  slowly,  a  step  at  a  time." 
There  was  sound  sense  in  what  he  told 
me,  and  I  said  so ;  but  feeling  that  we  were 
losing    time,    I    added,     "Let's    hurry    on 


now/1 


"  It  is  because  there  is  no  hurry  that  I 
have  explained  this  to  you  here,"  he  replied. 
"This  is  a  time  for  waiting  instead  of  hurry- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ing.  You  should  always  give  the  animal 
plenty  of  chance  to  lie  down  and  get  sleepy." 

The  day  was  too  cold,  however,  for  longer 
waiting.  We  went  on  to  the  river,  and  were 
surprised  to  find  that  it  was  frozen  over, 
except  for  long,  narrow  open  places  over 
the  rapids.  As  there  was  no  snow  on  the 
new-formed  ice,  walking  on  it  was  a  great 
relief  to  our  tired  legs.  A  couple  of  hun 
dred  yards  down  stream  we  came  to  the 
fir  thicket,  and  walked  past  it.  Since  no 
fresh  deer  track  was  to  be  found  coming 
from  the  place,  we  knew  that  the  doe  was 
somewhere  in  it. 

Back  we  turned,  and  leaving  the  river, 
began  to  work  our  way  in  among  the  snow- 
laden  trees,  which  stood  so  close  together 
that  we  could  see  no  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  feet  ahead.  I  kept  well  back  from 
Pitamakan,  in  order  to  give  him  every  pos 
sible  chance.  It  was  an  anxious  moment. 
Killing  that  deer  meant  supplying  so  many 
of  our  needs! 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  had  sneaked  into  the  thicket  for  per 
haps  fifty  yards  when,  for  all  his  care,  Pita- 
makan  grazed  with  his  shoulder  a  snow-laden 
branch  of  balsam,  and  down  came  the  whole 
fluff  of  it.  I  saw  the  snow  farther  on  burst 
up  as  if  from  the  explosion  of  a  bomb,  and 
caught  just  a  glimpse  of  the  deer,  whose 
tremendous  leaps  were  raising  the  feathery 
cloud.  It  had  only  a  few  yards  to  go  in  the 
open ;  but  Pitamakan  had  seen  it  rise  from 
its  bed,  and  was  quick  enough  to  get  a  fair 
shot  before  it  disappeared. 

"  I  hit  it ! "  he  cried.  "  I  saw  its  tail  drop ! 
Come  on." 

That  was  a  certain  sign.  When  a  deer  of 
this  variety  is  alarmed  and  runs,  it  invariably 
raises  its  short,  white-haired  tail,  and  keeps 
swaying  it  like  the  inverted  pendulum  of  a 
clock ;  but  if  even  slightly  wounded  by  the 
hunter,  it  instantly  claps  its  tail  tight  against 
its  body  and  keeps  it  there. 

"  Here  is  blood  !  "  Pitamakan  called  out, 
pointing  to  some  red  spots  on  the  snow.  They 

114 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

were  just  a  few  scattering  drops,  but  I  con 
soled  myself  with  thinking  that  an  arrow 
does  not  let  out  blood  like  a  rifle-ball  because 
the  shaft  fills  the  wound.  We  soon  came  to 
the  edge  of  the  fir  thicket.  Beyond,  the 
woods  were  so  open  that  we  could  see  a  long 
way  in  the  direction  of  the  deer's  trail.  We 
dropped  to  a  walk,  and  went  on  a  little  less 
hopefully;  the  blood-droppings  became  more 
scattering,  and  soon  not  another  red  spot  was 
to  be  seen  —  a  bad  sign. 

At  last  we  found  where  the  deer  had 
ceased  running,  had  stopped  and  turned  round 
to  look  back.  It  had  stood  for  some  time,  as 
was  shown  by  the  well-trodden  snow.  Even 
here  there  was  not  one  drop  of  blood,  and 
worst  of  all,  from  this  place  the  deer  had 
gone  on  at  its  natural  long  stride. 

"  It  is  useless  for  us  to  trail  her  farther," 
said  Pitamakan  dolefully.  "  Her  wound  is 
only  a  slight  one ;  it  smarts  just  enough  to 
keep  her  traveling  and  watching  that  we 
don't  get  a  chance  for  another  shot." 

"5 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  felt  bad  enough,  but  Pitamakan  felt  worse, 
because  he  thought  that  he  should  have  made 
a  better  shot. 

"  Oh,  never  mind/'  I  said,  trying  to  cheer 
him.  "There  are  plenty  of  deer  close  round 
here,  and  it  is  a  long  time  until  night.  Go 
ahead.  We'll  do  better  next  time." 

"  I  am  pretty  tired,"  he  complained.  "  Per 
haps  we  had  better  go  to  camp  and  start  out 
rested  to-morrow." 

I  had  not  thought  to  take  the  lead  and 
break  trail  a  part  of  the  time ;  of  course  he 
was  tired.  I  proposed  to  do  it  now,  and  added 
that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  walk  on  the 
ice  of  the  river  and  look  carefully  into  the 
timber  along  the  shores  for  meat  of  some 
kind. 

"You  speak  truth!"  he  exclaimed,  his 
face  brightening  in  a  way  that  was  good  to 
see.  "  Go  ahead ;  let 's  get  over  there  as  quick 
as  possible." 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  back  on  the  ice, 
where  he  took  the  lead  again.  And  now  for 

116 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  first  time  since  leaving  camp  —  except 
for  a  few  minutes  after  the  shot  at  the  deer 
—  I  felt  sure  that  with  so  much  game  in  the 
valley  we  should  kill  something.  On  the 
smooth,  new  ice,  our  moccasins  were  abso 
lutely  noiseless ;  we  were  bound  to  get  a  near 
shot.  Inside  of  half  an  hour  we  flushed  sev 
eral  coveys  of  grouse,  and  saw  an  otter  and 
two  mink ;  but  there  were  so  many  tracks  of 
big  game  winding  round  on  the  shore  and  in 
and  out  of  the  timber  that  we  paid  no  atten 
tion  to  the  small  fry. 

It  was  at  the  apex  of  a  sharp  point,  where 
the  river  ran  right  at  the  roots  of  some  big 
pines,  that  we  saw  something  that  sent  a  thrill 
of  expectation  through  us;  the  snow  on  a 
willow  suddenly  tumbled,  while  the  wil 
low  itself  trembled  as  if  something  had 
hit  it.  We  stopped  and  listened,  but  heard 
nothing.  Then  nearer  to  us  the  snow  fell 
from  another  bush  ;  from  another  closer  yet, 
and  Pitamakan  made  ready  to  shoot  just  as  a 
big  cow  elk  walked  into  plain  view  and 

117 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

stopped,  broadside  toward  us,  not  fifty  feet 
away. 

"Oh,  now  it  is  meat,  sure/'  I  thought, 
and  with  one  eye  on  the  cow  and  the  other 
on  my  companion,  I  waited  breathlessly. 

For  an  instant  Pitamakan  held  the  bow 
motionless,  then  suddenly  drew  back  the  cord 
with  a  mighty  pull,  whirled  half  round  on 
the  slippery  ice  and  sat  down,  with  the  bow 
still  held  out  in  his  left  hand.  From  each 
end  of  it  dangled  a  part  of  the  cord ! 

That  was  a  terrible  disappointment.  Such 
a  fair  chance  to  get  a  big  fat  animal  lost,  all 
because  of  that  weak  bowstring !  The  elk  had 
lunged  out  of  sight  the  instant  Pitamakan 
moved.  He  sat  for  a  moment  motionless  on 
the  ice,  with  bowed  head,  a  picture  of  utter 
dejection.  Finally  he  gave  a  deep  sigh,  got 
up  slowly  and  listlessly,  and  muttered  that 
we  had  better  go  home. 

"  Wait !  Let 's  knot  the  cord  together," 
I  proposed.  "  That  may  have  been  the  one 
weak  place  in  it." 

118 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

He  shook  his  head  in  a  hopeless  way  and 
started  upstream,  but  after  a  few  steps  halted, 
and  said,  "  I  have  no  hope,  but  we  '11  try 


it." 


The  cord  had  been  several  inches  longer 
than  was  necessary,  and  after  the  knot  was 
made  it  was  still  long  enough  to  string  the 
bow.  When  it  was  in  place  again,  Pitamakan 
gave  it  a  half  pull,  a  harder  one,  then  fitted  an 
arrow  and  drew  it  slowly  back ;  but  before 
the  head  of  the  shaft  was  anywhere  near  the 
bow,  f rip!  went  the  cord,  broken  in  a  new 
place.  We  were  done  for  unless  we  could  get 
a  new  and  serviceable  cord !  Without  a  word 
Pitamakan  started  on  and  I  followed,  my 
mind  all  a  jumble  of  impossible  plans. 

We  followed  the  winding  river  homeward 
in  preference  to  the  shorter  route  through 
the  deep  snow.  The  afternoon  was  no  more 
than  half  gone  when  we  arrived  at  the  little 
shelter,  rebuilt  the  fire,  and  sat  down  to  roast 
some  rabbit  meat. 

"  We  can't  even  get  any  more  rabbits,"  I 
119 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

said.  "There  are  so  many  knots  in  our  strings 
that  a  slip-noose  can't  be  made  with  them." 

"  That  is  true,  brother,"  said  Pitamakan, 
"so  we  have  but  one  chance  left.  If  there 
is  a  bear  in  that  cave  across  the  river  we  have 
got  to  kill  him." 

"With  clubs?" 

"Yes,  of  course.  I  told  you  that  my  dream 
forbids  the  cutting  of  my  hair,  and  so  there 
is  no  way  to  make  a  bowstring." 

"Come  on!  Come  on !"  I  said  desper 
ately.  "  Let 's  go  now  and  have  it  over." 

We  ate  our  rabbit  meat  as  quickly  as  pos 
sible,  drank  from  the  spring,  and  by  the  help 
of  the  indispensable  "anvil"  and  our  cutting- 
stones,  we  got  us  each  a  heavy,  green  birch 
club.  Then  we  hurried  off  to  the  river.  Al 
though  much  snow  had  fallen  since  we  had 
seen  the  black  bear's  tracks  there,  its  trail 
was  still  traceable  up  through  the  timber  to 
ward  the  cave. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WELL,  we  took  up  the  dim  trail 
on  the  farther  side  of  the  river 
and  followed  it  through  the  tim 
ber  toward  the  cave  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff, 
but  I,  for  my  part,  was  not  at  all  anxious  to 
reach  the  end  of  it.  Midway  up  the  slope  I 
called  to  Pitamakan  to  halt. 

"Let's  talk  this  over  and  plan  just  what 
we  will  do  at  the  cave,"  I  proposed. 

"I  don't  know  what  there  is  to  plan,"  he 
answered,  turning  and  facing  me.  "  We  walk 
up  to  the  cave,  stoop  down,  and  shout, 
'  Sticky-mouth,  come  out  of  there  ! '  Out 
he  comes,  terribly  scared,  and  we  stand  on 
each  side  of  the  entrance  with  raised  clubs, 
and  whack  him  on  the  base  of  the  nose  as 
hard  as  we  can.  Down  he  falls.  We  hit  him 
a  few  more  times,  and  he  dies." 

"Yes?"  said  I.  "Yes?" 

I  was  trying  to  remember  all  the  bear  sto- 

121 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ries  that  I  had  heard  the  company  men  and 
the  Indians  tell,  but  I  could  call  to  mind  no 
story  of  their  attacking  a  bear  with  clubs. 

"  Yes  ?  Yes  what  ?  Why  did  you  stop  ?  Go 
on  and  finish  what  you  started  to  say." 

"We  may  be  running  a  big  risk,"  I  re 
plied.  "  I  have  always  heard  that  any  animal 
will  fight  when  it  is  cornered." 

"  But  we  are  not  going  to  corner  this  bear. 
We  stand  on  each  side  of  the  entrance ;  it 
comes  out ;  there  is  the  big  wide  slope  and 
the  thick  forest  before  it,  and  plenty  of  room 
to  run.  We  will  be  in  great  luck  if,  with  the 
one  blow  that  we  each  will  have  time  for, 
we  succeed  in  knocking  it  down.  Remem 
ber  this:  We  have  to  hit  it  and  hit  hard 
with  one  swing  of  the  club,  for  it  will  be 
going  so  fast  that  there  will  be  no  chance 
for  a  second  blow." 

We  went  on.  I  felt  somewhat  reassured, 
and  was  now  anxious  to  have  the  adventure 
over  as  soon  as  possible.  All  our  future  de 
pended  on  getting  the  bear.  I  wondered 

122 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

whether,  if  we  failed  to  stop  the  animal  with 
our  clubs,  Pitamakan  would  venture  to  defy 
his  dream,  cut  off  a  braid  of  his  hair,  and 
make  a  bow-cord. 

Passing  the  last  of  the  trees,  we  began  to 
climb  the  short,  bare  slope  before  the  cave, 
when  suddenly  we  made  a  discovery  that 
was  sickening.  About  twenty  yards  from  the 
cave  the  trail  we  were  following  turned 
sharply  to  the  left  and  went  quartering  back 
into  the  timber.  We  stared  at  it  for  a  mo 
ment  in  silence.  Then  Pitamakan  said, 
dully:  — 

"  Here  ends  our  bear  hunt !  He  was  afraid 
to  go  to  his  den  because  our  scent  was  still 
there.  He  has  gone  far  off  to  some  other 
place  that  he  knows." 

The  outlook  was  certainly  black.  There 
was  but  one  chance  for  us  now,  I  thought, 
and  that  was  for  me  to  persuade  this  red 
brother  of  mine  to  disregard  his  dream  and 
cut  off  some  of  his  hair  for  a  bow-cord.  But 
turning  round  and  idly  looking  the  other 

123 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

way,  I  saw  something  that  instantly  drove 
this  thought  from  my  mind.  It  was  a  dim 
trail  along  the  foot  of  the  cliff  to  the  right 
of  the  cave.  I  grabbed  Pitamakan  by  the 
arm,  yanked  him  round,  and  silently  pointed 
at  it.  His  quick  eyes  instantly  discovered  it, 
and  he  grinned,  and  danced  a  couple  of  steps. 

"Aha!  That  is  why  this  one  turned  and 
went  away!  "  he  exclaimed.  "Another  bear 
was  there  already,  had  stolen  his  home  and 
bed,  and  he  was  afraid  to  fight  for  them. 
Come  on !  Come  on ! " 

We  went  but  a  few  steps,  however,  before 
he  stopped  short  and  stood  in  deep  thought. 
Finally  he  turned  and  looked  at  me  queerly, 
as  if  I  were  a  stranger  and  he  were  trying  to 
learn  by  my  appearance  what  manner  of  boy 
I  was.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  be  stared  at  in 
that  way.  I  stood  it  as  long  as  I  could,  and 
then  asked,  perhaps  a  little  impatiently,  why 
he  did  so.  The  answer  I  got  was  unex 
pected  :  — 

"  I  am  thinking  that  the  bear  there  in  the 
124 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

cave  may  be  a  grizzly.  How  is  it?  Shall  we 
go  on  and  take  the  chances,  or  turn  back  to 
camp  ?  If  you  are  afraid,  there  is  no  use  of 
our  trying  to  do  anything  up  there." 

Of  course  I  was  afraid,  but  I  was  also  des 
perate;  and  I  felt,  too,  that  I  must  be  just 
as  brave  as  my  partner.  "Go  on!"  I  said, 
and  my  voice  sounded  strangely  hollow  to 
me.  "  Go  on  !  I  will  be  right  with  you." 

We  climbed  the  remainder  of  the  slope 
and  stood  before  the  cave.  Its  low  entrance 
was  buried  in  snow,  all  except  a  narrow  space 
in  the  centre,  through  which  the  bear  had 
ploughed  its  way  in,  and  which,  since  its 
passing,  had  partly  filled.  The  trail  was  so 
old  that  we  could  not  determine  whether  a 
black  or  a  grizzly  bear  had  made  it. 

But  of  one  thing  there  could  be  no  doubt : 
the  animal  was  right  there  in  the  dark  hole, 
only  a  few  feet  from  us,  as  was  shown  by 
the  faint  wisps  of  congealed  breath  floating 
out  of  it  into  the  cold  air.  Pitamakan,  si 
lently  stationing  me  on  the  right  of  the 

125 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

entrance,  took  his  place  at  the  left  side,  and 
motioning  me  to  raise  my  club,  shouted, 
"  Pahk-si-kwo-yi,  sak-sit! "  (Sticky-mouth, 
come  out!) 

Nothing  came;  nor  could  we  hear  any 
movement,  any  stir  of  the  leaves  inside. 
Again  he  shouted ;  and  again  and  again,  with 
out  result.  Then,  motioning  me  to  follow, 
he  went  down  the  slope.  "  We  '11  have  to 
get  a  pole  and  jab  him,"  he  said,  when  we 
came  to  the  timber.  "Look  round  for  a 
good  one." 

We  soon  found  a  slender  dead  pine, 
snapped  it  at  the  base  where  it  had  rotted, 
and  knocked  off  the  few  scrawny  limbs.  It 
was  fully  twenty  feet  long,  and  very  light. 

"  Now  I  am  the  stronger,"  said  Pitamakan, 
as  we  went  back,  "  so  do  you  handle  the  pole, 
and  I  will  stand  ready  to  hit  a  big  blow  with 
my  club.  You  keep  your  club  in  your  right 
hand,  and  work  the  pole  into  the  cave  with 
your  left.  In  that  way  maybe  you  will  have 
time  to  strike,  too." 

126 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

When  we  came  to  the  cave,  I  found  that 
his  plan  would  not  work.  I  could  not  force 
the  pole  through  the  pile  of  snow  at  the  en 
trance  with  one  hand,  so  standing  the  club 
where  I  could  quickly  reach  it,  I  used  both 
hands.  At  every  thrust  the  pole  went  in 
deeper,  and  in  the  excitement  of  the  mo 
ment  I  drove  it  harder  and  harder,  with 
the  result  that  it  unexpectedly  went  clear 
through  the  obstructing  snow  and  on,  and  I 
fell  headlong. 

At  the  instant  I  went  down  something 
struck  the  far  end  of  the  pole  such  a  rap  that 
I  could  feel  the  jar  of  it  clear  back  through 
the  snow,  and  a  muffled,  raucous,  angry  yowl 
set  all  my  strained  nerves  a-quiver.  As  I  was 
gathering  myself  to  rise,  the  dreadful  yowl 
was  repeated  right  over  my  head,  and  down 
the  bear  came  on  me,  clawing  and  squirm 
ing.  Its  sharp  nails  cut  right  into  my  legs. 
I  squirmed  as  best  I  could  under  its  weight, 
and  no  doubt  went  through  the  motions 
of  yelling ;  but  my  face  was  buried  in  the 

127 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

snow,  and  for  the  moment  I  could  make  no 
sound. 

Although  I  was  sure  that  a  grizzly  was 
upon  me  and  that  my  time  had  come,  I  con 
tinued  to  wiggle,  and  to  my  great  surprise, 
I  suddenly  slipped  free  from  the  weight,  rose 
up,  and  toppled  over  backward,  catching,  as 
I  went,  just  a  glimpse  of  Pitamakan  fiercely 
striking  a  blow  with  his  club.  I  was  on  my 
feet  in  no  time,  and  what  I  saw  caused  me 
to  yell  with  delight  as  I  sprang  for  my  club. 
The  bear  was  kicking  and  writhing  in  the 
snow,  and  my  partner  was  showering  blows 
on  its  head.  I  delivered  a  blow  or  two  my 
self  before  it  ceased  to  struggle. 

Then  I  saw  that  it  was  not  a  grizzly,  but  a 
black  bear  of  no  great  size.  Had  it  been  a 
grizzly,  I  certainly,  and  probably  Pitamakan, 
too,  would  have  been  killed  right  there. 

It  was  some  little  time  before  we  could 
settle  down  to  the  work  in  hand.  Pitamakan 
had  to  describe  how  he  had  stood  ready,  and 
hit  the  bear  a  terrific  blow  on  the  nose  as  it 

128 


PITAMAKAN    FIERCELY    STRIKING    A    BLOW 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

came  leaping  out,  and  how  he  had  followed 
it  up  with  more  blows  as  fast  as  he  could 
swing  his  club.  Then  I  tried  to  tell  how  I 
had  felt,  crushed  under  the  bear  and  expect 
ing  every  instant  to  be  bitten  and  clawed  to 
death.  But  words  failed  me,  and,  moreover, 
a  stinging  sensation  in  my  legs  demanded 
my  attention ;  there  were  several  gashes  in 
them  from  which  blood  was  trickling,  and 
my  trousers  were  badly  ripped.  I  rubbed  the 
wounds  a  bit  with  snow,  and  found  that  they 
were  not  so  serious  as  they  looked. 

The  bear,  a  male,  was  very  fat,  and  was 
quite  too  heavy  for  us  to  carry ;  probably  it 
weighed  two  hundred  pounds.  But  we  could 
drag  it,  and  taking  hold  of  its  fore  paws,  we 
started  home.  It  was  easy  to  pull  it  down  the 
slope  and  across  the  ice,  but  from  there  to 
camp,  across  the  level  valley,  dragging  it  was 
very  hard  work.  Night  had  fallen  when  we 
arrived,  and  cold  as  the  air  was,  we  were  cov 
ered  with  perspiration. 

Luckily,  we  had  a  good  supply  of  wood 
129 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

on  hand.  Pitamakan,  opening  the  ash-heap, 
raked  out  a  mass  of  live  coals  and  started  a 
good  fire.  Then  we  rested  and  broiled  some 
rabbit  meat  before  attacking  the  bear.  Never 
were  there  two  happier  boys  than  we,  as  we 
sat  before  our  fire  in  that  great  wilderness, 
munched  our  insipid  rabbit  meat  and  gloated 
over  our  prize. 

The  prehistoric  people  no  doubt  considered 
obsidian  knives  most  excellent  tools ;  but  to 
us,  who  were  accustomed  only  to  sharp  steel, 
they  seemed  anything  but  excellent;  they 
severely  tried  our  muscles,  our  patience,  and 
our  temper.  They  proved,  however,  to  be 
not  such  bad  flaying  instruments.  Still,  we 
were  a  long  time  ripping  the  bear's  skin  from 
the  tip  of  the  jaw  down  along  the  belly  to 
the  tail,  and  from  the  tail  down  the  inside 
of  the  legs  to  and  round  the  base  of  the  feet. 
There  were  fully  two  inches  of  fat  on  the 
carcass,  and  when  we  finally  got  the  hide  off, 
we  looked  as  if  we  had  actually  wallowed  in 
it.  By  that  time,  according  to  the  Big  Dip- 

130 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

per,  it  was  past  midnight,  but  Pitamakan 
would  not  rest  until  he  had  the  back  sinews 
safe  out  of  the  carcass  and  drying  before  the 
fire  for  early  use. 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  the  Indians 
used  the  leg  tendons  of  animals  for  bow-cords, 
thread,  and  wrappings,  but  this  is  a  mistake ; 
the  only  ones  they  took  were  the  back  sinews. 
These  lie  like  ribbons  on  the  outside  of  the 
flesh  along  the  backbone,  and  vary  in  length 
and  thickness  according  to  the  size  of  the  ani 
mal.  Those  of  a  buffalo  bull,  for  instance,  are 
nearly  three  feet  long,  three  or  four  inches 
wide,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  When 
dry,  they  are  easily  shredded  into  thread  of 
any  desired  size. 

Those  that  we  now  took  from  the  bear 
were  not  two  feet  long,  but  were  more  than 
sufficient  for  a  couple  of  bow-cords.  As  soon 
as  we  had  them  free,  we  pressed  them  against 
a  smooth  length  of  dry  wood,  where  they 
stuck ;  and  laying  this  well  back  from  the 
fire,  we  began  our  intermittent  night's  sleep, 

13* 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

for,  as  I  have  said,  we  had  to  get  up  fre 
quently  to  replenish  the  fire. 

The  next  morning,  expecting  to  have  a 
fine  feast,  I  broiled  some  of  the  bear  meat 
over  the  coals,  but  it  was  so  rank  that  one 
mouthful  was  more  than  enough ;  so  I  helped 
Pitamakan  finish  the  last  of  the  rabbit  meat. 
He  would  have  starved  rather  than  eat  the 
meat  of  a  bear,  for  to  the  Blackfeet  the  bear 
is  "  medicine,"  a  sacred  animal,  near  kin  to 
man,  and  therefore  not  to  be  used  for  food. 

Killing  a  grizzly  was  considered  as  great 
a  feat  as  killing  a  Sioux,  or  other  enemy. 
But  the  successful  hunter  took  no  part  of 
the  animal  except  the  claws,  unless  he  were 
a  medicine-man.  The  medicine-man,  with 
many  prayers  and  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  would 
occasionally  take  a  strip  of  the  fur  to  wrap 
round  the  roll  containing  his  sacred  pipe. 

Pitamakan  himself  was  somewhat  averse 
to  our  making  any  use  of  the  black  bear's 
hide,  but  when  I  offered  to  do  all  the  work 
of  scraping  off  the  fat  meat  and  of  drying  it, 

132 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

he  consented  to  sleep  on  it  once  with  me,  as 
an  experiment,  and  if  his  dreams  were  good, 
to  continue  to  use  it. 

I  went  at  my  task  with  good  will,  and  was 
half  the  morning  getting  the  hide  clean  and 
in  shape  to  stretch  and  dry.  Pitamakan  mean 
while  made  two  bow-cords  of  the  bear  sinew. 
First  he  raveled  them  into  a  mass  of  fine 
threads,  and  then  hand-spun  them  into  a 
twisted  cord  of  the  desired  length ;  and  he 
made  a  very  good  job  of  it,  too.  When  he 
had  stretched  the  cords  to  dry  before  the  fire, 
he  sharpened  a  twig  of  dry  birch  for  an  awl, 
and  with  the  rest  of  the  sinew,  repaired  our 
badly  ripped  moccasins.  At  noon  we  started 
out  to  hunt,  and  on  the  way  dragged  the  bear 
carcass  back  to  the  river  and  across  it  into 
the  big  timber,  where  later  on  we  hoped  to 
use  it  for  bait. 

This  day  we  went  up  the  river,  walking 
noiselessly  on  the  ice.  From  the  start  we  felt 
confident  of  success;  for  not  only  were  our 
bow-cords  as  good  as  we  could  desire,  but 

133 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  bows  were  now  in  fine  condition,  having 
dried  out  and  become  more  stiff,  yet  springy. 
Since,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  night, 
more  snow  had  fallen,  we  could  distinguish 
fresh  game  tracks  from  old  ones.  And  now 
that  there  was  snow  on  the  ice,  we  naturally 
expected  to  see  where  the  hoofed  game  had 
been  crossing  the  river  ;  they  seldom  venture 
out  on  smooth  ice,  from  fear  of  slipping  and 
injuring  themselves. 

The  first  game  we  saw  were  a  number 
of  ruffed  grouse  standing  in  a  row  at  the 
edge  of  a  strip  of  open  water,  to  take  their 
daily  drink.  They  walked  away  into  the  wil 
lows  at  our  approach,  and  from  there  flew 
into  the  firs,  where  we  knocked  down  four 
of  them  with  our  blunt-headed  bird  arrows. 
I  got  only  one,  for  of  course  I  was  not  so 
good  a  marksman  with  bow  and  arrow  as 
my  partner,  who  had  used  the  weapon  more 
or  less  since  he  was  old  enough  to  walk. 

Burying  the  grouse  in  the  snow  at  the 
edge  of  the  shore,  we  went  on,  and  presently 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

came  to  the  place  where  several  elk  had 
crossed  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  browsed 
among  a  bordering  patch  of  red  willows, 
and  then  gone  into  the  thick  firs.  We  fol 
lowed  them,  not  nearly  so  excited  now  that 
we  had  trustworthy  weapons  as  we  had  been 
on  the  previous  hunt.  When  we  came  near 
the  firs,  which  covered  several  acres  of  the 
bend  in  the  river,  Pitamakan  sent  me  round 
to  enter  the  farther  side  and  come  through 
the  patch  toward  him,  while  he  took  his 
stand  close  to  the  place  where  the  band  had 
entered. 

"You  needn't  come  back  carefully,"  he 
said  to  me.  "  Make  all  the  noise  you  can  — 
the  more  the  better ;  then  they  will  come 
running  out  here  on  their  back  trail,  and 
I  '11  get  some  good  shots.  You  'd  better  give 
me  one  of  your  real  arrows,  for  you  will 
probably  not  get  a  chance  even  for  one  shot 
at  them." 

That  left  me  with  only  one  arrow  with  an 
obsidian  point,  but  nevertheless  I  determined 

'35 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

to  do  my  best  to  get  an  elk.  As  Pitamakan 
had  remarked  about  himself,  I,  too,  felt  the 
sun  power  strong  within  me  that  morning 
and  looked  for  success.  With  that  feeling, 
call  it  what  you  will,  —  all  old  hunters  will 
understand  what  I  mean,  —  I  was  not  at  all 
surprised,  a  short  time  after  entering  the  firs, 
to  see,  as  I  was  sneaking  along  through 
them,  a  big  bull  elk  astride  a  willow  bush 
that  he  had  borne  down  in  order  to  nip  the 
tender  tips. 

He  was  not  fifty  feet  from  me,  and  no 
doubt  thought  that  the  slight  noise  which 
he  heard  was  made  by  one  of  his  band.  He 
could  not  see  me  at  first,  because  of  a  screen 
of  fir  branches  between  us,  and  he  had  not 
looked  up  when  I  made  the  final  step  that 
brought  me  into  the  open.  But  when  I 
raised  the  bow,  he  jerked  his  head  sidewise 
and  gathered  himself  for  a  jump. 

He  was  not  so  quick  as  I.  The  strength 
of  a  giant  seemed  to  swell  in  my  arms ;  I 
drew  the  arrow  sliding  back  across  the  bow 

136 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

almost  to  the  head  with  a  lightning-like 
pull,  and  let  it  go,  zip!  deep  into  his  side 
through  the  small  ribs. 

Away  he  went,  and  I  after  him,  yelling 
at  the  top  of  my  voice  to  scare  the  herd 
toward  Pitamakan,  if  possible.  I  saw  several 
of  them  bounding  away  through  the  firs,  but 
my  eyes  were  all  for  the  red  trail  of  the 
bull.  And  presently  I  came  to  the  great  ani 
mal,  stretched  across  a  snow-covered  log  and 
breathing  its  last ;  for  the  arrow  had  pierced 
its  lungs. 

"  Wo-ke-hai !  Ni-kai-nit-ab  is-stum-ik  !  " 
(Come  on  !  I  have  killed  a  bull !)  I  yelled. 

And  from  the  far  side  of  the  firs  came  the 
answer:  "Nis-toab  ni-mut-uk-stan ! "  (I  have 
also  killed !) 

That  was  great  news.  Although  it  was 
hard  for  me  to  leave  my  big  bull  even  for 
a  moment,  I  went  to  Pitamakan,  and  found 
that  he  had  killed  a  fine  big  cow.  He  had 
used  three  arrows,  and  had  finally  dropped 
her  at  the  edge  of  the  river. 

137 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  were  so  much  pleased  and  excited 
over  our  success  that  it  was  some  time  be 
fore  we  could  cease  telling  how  it  all  hap 
pened  and  settle  down  to  work.  We  had 
several  fresh  obsidian  flakes,  but  as  the  edges 
soon  grew  dull,  we  were  all  the  rest  of  the 
day  in  getting  the  hides  off  the  animals  and 
going  to  camp  with  the  meat  of  the  cow. 
The  meat  of  my  bull  was  too  poor  to  use, 
but  his  skin,  sinews,  brains,  and  liver  were  of 
the  greatest  value  to  us,  as  will  be  explained. 

"  There  is  so  much  for  us  to  do  that  it  is 
hard  to  decide  what  to  do  first,"  said  Pit- 
amakan  that  night. 

It  was  long  after  dark,  and  we  had  just 
gathered  the  last  of  a  pile  of  firewood  and 
sat  ourselves  down  before  the  cheerful  blaze. 

"  The  first  thing  is  to  cook  a  couple  of 
grouse,  some  elk  liver,  and  hang  a  side  of 
elk  ribs  over  the  fire  to  roast  for  later  eat 
ing,"  I  said,  and  began  preparing  the  great 
feast. 

After  our  long  diet  of  rabbits,  it  was  a 
138 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

feast.  We  finished  the  birds  and  the  liver, 
and  then  sat  waiting  patiently  for  the  fat 
ribs  to  roast  to  a  crisp  brown  as  they  swung 
on  a  tripod  over  the  fire.  I  was  now  so  ac 
customed  to  eating  meat  without  salt  that 
I  no  longer  craved  the  mineral,  and  of  course 
my  companion  never  thought  of  it.  In  those 
days  the  Blackfeet  used  none;  their  very 
name  for  it,  is-tsik-si-pok-wi  (like  fire  tastes), 
proved  their  dislike  of  the  condiment. 

"  Well,  let  us  now  decide  what  we  shall 
do  first/*  Pitamakan  again  proposed.  "  We 
need  new  moccasins,  new  leggings  and  snow- 
shoes.  Moreover,  we  need  a  comfortable 
lodge.  Which  shall  be  first?" 

"  The  lodge,"  I  answered,  without  hesit 
ation.  "  But  how  can  we  make  one  ?  What 
material  can  we  get  for  one  unless  we  kill 
twenty  elk  and  tan  the  skins  ?  That  would 
take  a  long  time." 

"This  is  a  different  kind  of  lodge,"  he 
explained.  "When  you  came  up  the  Big 
River  you  saw  the  lodges  of  the  Earth  Peo- 

139 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

pie?  Yes.  Well,  we  will  build  one  like 
theirs." 

On  the  voyage  up  the  Missouri  with  my 
uncle  I  had  not  only  seen  the  lodges  of  the 
Earth  People  (Sak-wi  Tup-pi),  as  the  Black- 
feet  called  the  Mandans,  but  I  had  been  in 
side  several  of  them,  and  noted  how  warm 
and  comfortable  they  were.  Their  construc 
tion  was  merely  a  matter  of  posts,  poles,  and 
earth.  We  agreed  to  begin  one  in  the  morn 
ing,  and  do  no  hunting  until  it  was  done. 

The  site  that  we  chose  for  the  lodge  was 
a  mile  below  camp  and  close  to  the  river, 
where  two  or  three  years  before  a  fire,  sweep 
ing  through  a  growth  of  "lodge-pole" 
pines,  had  killed  thousands  of  the  young, 
slender  trees.  In  a  grove  of  heavy  firs  close 
by  we  began  the  work,  and  as  every  one 
should  know  how  to  build  a  comfortable 
house  without  the  aid  of  tools  and  nails, 
I  will  give  some  details  of  the  construction. 

In  place  of  the  four  heavy  corner  posts 
which  the  Mandans  cut,  we  used  four  low- 

140 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

crotched  trees  that  stood  about  twenty  feet 
apart  in  the  form  of  a  square.  In  the  crotches 
on  two  sides  of  the  square  we  laid  as  heavy 
a  pole  as  we  could  carry,  and  bolstered  up 
the  centre  with  a  pile  of  flat  rocks,  to  keep 
it  from  sagging.  On  the  joists,  as  these  may 
be  called,  we  laid  lighter  poles  side  by  side, 
to  form  the  roof.  In  the  centre  we  left  a 
space  about  four  feet  wide,  the  ends  of  which 
we  covered  with  shorter  poles,  until  we  re 
duced  it  to  a  hole  four  feet  square. 

The  next  task  was  to  get  the  poles  for 
the  sides.  These  we  made  of  the  proper 
length  by  first  denting  them  with  sharp- 
edged  stones  and  then  snapping  them  off. 
They  were  slanted  all  round  against  the  four 
sides,  except  for  a  narrow  space  in  the  south 
side,  which  we  left  for  a  doorway.  Next 
we  thatched  the  roof  and  sides  with  a  thick 
layer  of  balsam  boughs,  on  top  of  which  we 
laid  a  covering  of  earth  nearly  a  foot  deep. 
This  earth  we  shoveled  into  an  elk  hide  with 
elk  shoulder  blades,  and  then  carried  each 

141 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

load  to  its  proper  place.  Lastly,  we  con 
structed  in  the  same  manner  a  passageway 
six  or  eight  feet  long  to  the  door. 

All  this  took  us  several  days  to  accom 
plish,  and  was  hard  work.  But  when  we  had 
laid  a  ring  of  heavy  stones  directly  under 
the  square  opening  in  the  roof  for  a  fireplace, 
made  a  thick  bed  of  balsam  boughs,  and  cov 
ered  it  with  the  bearskin,  put  up  an  elkskin 
for  a  door,  and  sat  us  down  before  a  cheer 
ful  fire,  we  had  a  snug,  warm  house,  and 
were  vastly  proud  of  it. 

"  Now  for  some  adventure,"  said  Pita- 
makan,  as  we  sat  eating  our  first  meal  in  the 
new  house.  "  What  say  you  we  had  best  do  ? " 

"  Make  some  moccasins  and  snowshoes," 
I  replied. 

"We  can  do  that  at  night.  Let  us  —  " 

The  sentence  was  never  finished.  A  terri 
ble  booming  roar,  seemingly  right  overhead, 
broke  upon  our  ears.  Pitamakan's  brown  face 
turned  an  ashy  gray  as  he  sprang  up,  crying: 

"Run!  Run!  Run!" 


CHAPTER  VII 

OUT  into  the  snow  we  ran,  while 
nearer  and  nearer  sounded  that  ter 
rific  roaring  and  rumbling ;  it  was  as 
if  the  round  world  was  being  rent  asunder. 
Pitamakan  led  the  way  straight  back  from  the 
river  toward  the  south  side  of  the  valley,  and 
we  had  run  probably  two  hundred  yards  be 
fore  the  noise  ceased  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
begun.  We  were  quite  out  of  breath,  and  it 
was  some  time  before  I  could  ask  what  had 
happened. 

"  Why,  don't  you  know?"  he  said.  "  That 
was  a  great  piece  of  the  ice  cliff  on  the  moun 
tain  across  there.  It  broke  off  and  came  tear 
ing  down  into  the  valley.  Trees,  boulders, 
everything  in  its  way  were  smashed  and  car 
ried  down.  I  thought  that  it  was  going  to 
bury  our  lodge." 

Pitamakan  wanted  to  make  an  early  start 
in  the  morning  to  view  the  path  of  the  ava- 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

lanche,  but  I  insisted  that  we  stay  at  home 
and  work  hard  until  the  things  that  we  needed 
so  much  were  finished.  I  had  my  way. 

Ever  since  the  day  of  the  elk  killing,  we 
had  kept  one  of  the  big  hides  in  the  river  in 
order  to  loosen  the  hair.  In  the  morning  we 
brought  it  into  the  lodge,  and  laying  it  over 
a  smooth,  hard  piece  of  driftwood,  grained 
it  with  a  heavy  elk  rib  for  a  graining-knife. 
It  was  very  hard  work.  Although  we  sharp 
ened  an  edge  of  the  rib  with  a  piece  of 
sandstone  and  kept  it  as  sharp  as  possible,  we 
had  to  bear  down  on  it  with  all  our  strength, 
pushing  it  an  inch  or  two  at  a  time  in  order 
to  separate  the  hair  from  the  skin.  Taking 
turns,  we  were  half  a  day  in  finishing  the 
job. 

We  cut  the  hide  into  two  parts.  Of  these, 
we  dried  one,  and  cut  the  other  into  webbing- 
strings  for  snowshoes  —  tedious  work  with 
our  obsidian  knives.  As  soon  as  the  half  hide 
was  dry,  I  rubbed  elk  brains  and  liver  well 
into  it,  and  then,  rolling  it  up,  laid  it  away 

144 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

for  a  couple  of  days  until  the  mixture  could 
neutralize  the  large  amount  of  glue  that  is 
in  all  hides.  After  that  operation,  I  spent 
half  a  day  in  washing  the  hide  and  then  rub 
bing  and  stretching  it  as  it  dried.  I  had  then 
a  very  good  piece  of  elk  leather,  —  so-called 
"buckskin,"  —  enough  for  four  pairs  of 
moccasins. 

These  Pitamakan  and  I  made  very  large, 
so  that  they  would  go  over  the  rabbit-skins 
with  which  we  wrapped  our  feet  as  a  pro 
tection  from  the  cold.  Our  needle  for  sew 
ing  them  was  a  sharp  awl  made  from  a  piece 
of  an  elk's  leg  bone ;  the  thread  was  of  elk 
sinew. 

O-wam  (shape  of  eggs)  is  the  Blackfoot 
name  for  snowshoes.  Those  that  we  made 
were  neither  shaped  like  an  egg  nor  like  any 
thing  else.  The  bows  were  of  birch,  and  no 
two  were  alike,  and  the  webbing  was  woven  on 
them  in  a  way  to  make  a  forest  Indian  laugh. 
Neither  Pitamakan's  people  nor  the  other 
tribes  of  the  plains  knew  anything  about 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

snowshoes  except  in  a  general  way,  and  I 
had  never  seen  a  pair.  All  things  considered, 
however,  we  did  a  fairly  good  job.  If  the 
shoes  were  heavy  and  clumsy,  at  least  they 
were  serviceable,  for  they  sank  only  a  few 
inches  in  the  snow  when  we  tested  them. 

The  evening  we  finished  this  work  another 
snowstorm  came  on,  which  lasted  two  nights 
and  a  day,  and  forced  us  to  postpone  our  hunt. 
We  employed  the  time  in  improving  the  in 
terior  of  the  lodge  by  building  a  heavier 
stone  platform  for  the  fire,  one  that  would 
give  off  considerable  heat  after  we  went  to 
sleep. 

In  order  to  create  a  draft  for  the  fire,  we 
were  forced  to  admit  some  air  through  the 
doorway,  and  this  chilled  us.  Finally,  I  re 
membered  that  I  had  seen  in  the  Mandan 
lodges  screens  several  feet  high,  put  between 
the  doorway  and  the  fire,  in  order  to  force 
the  cold  air  upward. 

We  made  one  at  once  of  poles,  backed 
with  earth,  and  then,  building  a  small  fire, 

146 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

sat  down  on  our  bed  to  see  how  it  worked; 
no  more  cold  air  swept  across  the  floor,  and 
we  were  absolutely  comfortable.  But  in  the 
night,  although  the  stones  gave  out  some 
heat,  we  were  obliged  to  replenish  the  fire  as 
soon  as  it  died  down.  What  we  needed  in 
order  to  have  unbroken  sleep  was  bedding. 
Pitamakan  said  that  one  animal  here,  the 
white  mountain  goat,  had  a  warmer,  thicker 
coat  of  fur  than  the  buffalo.  We  determined 
to  get  some  of  the  hides  and  tan  them  into 
soft  robes. 

The  morning  after  the  storm  broke  clear 
and  cold,  but  my  partner  refused  to  go  up 
into  the  high  mountains  after  goats. 

"We  must  put  it  off  and  do  something 
else  to-day,"  he  said.  "  I  had  a  very  bad 
dream  last  night  —  a  confused  dream  of  a 
bear  and  a  goat,  one  biting  and  clawing  me, 
and  the  other  sticking  its  sharp  horns  into 
my  side.  Now  either  that  is  a  warning  not 
to  hunt  goats  to-day,  or  it  is  a  sign  that  the 
bearskin  that  we  are  sleeping  on  is  bad  medi- 

147 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

cine.  This  is  not  the  first  bad  dream  that  I 
have  had  since  lying  on  it." 

"  My  dreams  have  all  been  good  since  we 
began  sleeping  on  it,"  I  said. 

"  Then  use  it  by  yourself;  I  shall  not  sleep 
on  it  again." 

"  Oh,  dreams  don't  mean  anything ! "  I 
exclaimed.  "  White  people  pay  no  attention 
to  them." 

"That  is  because  your  gods  give  you  dif 
ferent  medicine  from  that  our  gods  give  us," 
he  said,  very  seriously.  "To  us  is  given  the 
dream ;  in  that  way  our  gods  show  us  the 
things  we  may  and  may  not  do.  Do  not  speak 
lightly  of  it,  lest  you  bring  harm  to  me." 

I  had  sense  enough  to  heed  his  wish ;  never 
afterward,  either  by  word  or  look,  did  I  cast 
even  a  shadow  of  doubt  upon  his  beliefs.  For 
that  reason,  largely,  we  got  along  together 
in  perfect  harmony,  as  all  companions  should. 

As  there  was  in  his  dream  nothing  about 
other  animals,  we  put  on  our  snowshoes  and 
started  out  to  hunt  and  set  traps  in  the  valley. 

148 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

At  odd  moments  we  had  been  making  triggers 
of  different  sizes  for  deadfalls,  and  now  had 
fifteen  ready  to  use.  They  were  of  the  "fig 
ure  4  "  pattern ;  more  complicated  than  the 
two-piece  triggers,  but  more  sure  of  action. 
Having  with  the  small  ones  set  deadfalls  for 
marten,  fisher,  and  mink,  we  went  on  up  the 
river  to  the  carcasses  of  the  bear  and  the  bull 
elk.  We  found  that  both  had  been  almost  en 
tirely  eaten  by  wolverenes,  lynxes,  and  moun 
tain  lions.  Having  built  at  each  of  these  places 
a  large  deadfall,  we  weighted  the  drop-bars 
so  heavily  with  old  logs  that  there  could  be 
no  escape  for  the  largest  prowler  once  he 
seized  the  bait. 

By  the  time  we  had  the  last  of  the  trig 
gers  baited  and  set  up  and  the  little  pen  built 
behind  the  drop-bar,  night  was  coming  on, 
and  we  hurried  home.  We  had  seen  many 
tracks  of  deer,  elk,  and  moose,  but  had  been 
too  busy  to  hunt  any  of  them.  As  we  neared 
the  lodge,  another  snowstorm  set  in,  but  that 
did  not  disturb  us ;  in  fact,  the  more  snow 

149 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  better,  for  with  deep  snow  the  hoofed 
game  of  the  valley  would  be  unable  to  escape 
us.  We  could  choose  the  fat  does  and  cows 
for  our  winter's  meat.  The  bucks  and  bulls 
were  already  poor,  and  the  others  would  lose 
flesh  rapidly  once  they  were  obliged  to 
"  yard,"  that  is,  to  confine  themselves  to  their 
hard-beaten  trails  in  the  limited  area  of  a 
willow  patch. 

It  was  a  heavy  snow  that  fell  in  the  night, 
and  the  next  morning  snowshoeing  was  good. 
As  Pitamakan  had  had  no  bad  dreams,  and 
the  sun  was  shining  in  a  clear  sky,  we  started 
out  for  a  goat  hunt.  After  climbing  the 
mountain-side  opposite  the  lodge  for  some 
time,  we  came  to  a  series  of  ledges,  whence 
we  obtained  a  fine  view  of  the  country  which 
we  were  living  in.  The  mountain  which  we 
were  on  was  high  and  very  steep.  Not  far 
below  its  summit  was  the  big  ice  field,  ter 
minating  at  the  edge  of  a  cliff,  from  which 
a  great  mass  had  tumbled,  and  started  the 
avalanche  that  had  frightened  us. 

150 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Turning  to  the  east  and  pointing  to  the 
backbone  of  the  range,  Pitamakan  told  me 
to  notice  how  absolutely  white  it  all  was 
except  the  perpendicular  cliffs,  where  snow 
could  not  lie.  There  was  no  question  but 
that  the  snow  was  a  great  deal  deeper  up 
there  than  where  we  were. 

I  thought  that  there  was  a  longing  in  Pita- 
makan's  eyes  as  he  gazed  at  the  tremendous 
wall  of  rock  and  snow  that  separated  us  from 
the  plains  and  from  our  people,  but  as  he 
said  nothing,  I  kept  quiet.  For  myself,  I  felt 
that  I  would  give  anything,  suffer  any  hard 
ships,  if  I  could  only  get  once  more  to  Fort 
Benton  and  my  uncle.  True,  we  now  had  a 
comfortable  lodge  and  plenty  of  elk  meat, 
weapons  for  killing  game,  snowshoes  for 
traveling,  and  the  outlook  for  more  com 
forts  was  favorable.  But  for  all  that,  the 
future  was  very  uncertain ;  there  were  many 
things  that  might  prevent  our  ever  reaching 
the  Missouri ;  all  nature  was  arrayed  against 
us,  and  so  was  man  himself. 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Pitamakan  roused  me  from  my  reverie  by 
a  tap  on  the  shoulder. 

"  I  can  see  no  goat  signs  here  above  us," 
he  said,  "  but  look  over  there  at  the  ledges 
well  up  on  the  next  mountain  to  the  east. 
Do  you  see  the  fresh  trails  ? " 

I  did.  In  the  smooth,  glittering  snow  they 
were  startlingly  distinct  in  their  windings 
and  turnings  from  clump  to  clump  of  the 
pines  on  the  rocky  ledges.  None  of  the  ani 
mals  that  made  them  were  in  sight,  but  that 
was  not  strange ;  as  they  were  of  practically 
the  same  color  as  the  snow,  we  could  not 
see  them  at  that  distance  except  when  they 
happened  to  get  in  front  of  the  dark  pines 
or  rock.  Although  the  distance  over  there 
was  not  more  than  a  mile  in  a  straight  line, 
a  cut  gorge  between  the  two  mountains 
obliged  us  to  return  to  the  river  before 
making  the  ascent,  which  more  than  doubled 
the  distance. 

After  striking  the  river,  we  followed  it  up 
past  the  mouth  of  the  gorge,  past  three  of 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  deadfalls  set  near  the  shore.  The  first  one 
held  a  fine,  large,  dark-furred  marten,  its 
body  nipped  across  the  shoulders  and  crushed 
by  the  drop-bar.  Taking  the  little  victim 
out,  and  hanging  it  in  a  tree,  we  reset  the 
trap.  The  next  deadfall  was  unsprung.  The 
third,  one  of  the  big  falls,  was  down,  and  we 
hurried  as  fast  as  we  could  to  see  what  it 
held. 

"A  lynx,"  I  ventured. 

"  A  wolverene,"  Pitamakan  guessed. 

We  were  both  wrong.  Pinned  down  by 
the  neck  was  a  big  mountain  lion,  to  us  the 
most  valuable  of  all  the  animals  of  the  forest. 
The  Blackfeet,  as  well  as  the  Crows  and 
Gros  Ventres,  prized  the  skins  very  highly 
for  use  as  saddle-robes  —  we  could  get  at 
least  four  horses  for  this  one.  Taking  such  a 
prize  made  us  feel  rich.  Leaving  it  in  the 
fall  until  our  return,  we  turned  off  from  the 
river  and  began  the  ascent  of  the  mountain 
in  high  spirits. 

For  a  time  the  going  was  good,  although 
153 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

increasingly  difficult.  After  we  had  passed 
through  the  big  timber,  the  mountain  be 
came  more  and  more  steep,  until  it  was  im 
possible  for  us  to  go  farther  on  snowshoes. 
Taking  them  off,  we  wallowed  up  through 
the  deep  snow  from  ledge  to  ledge,  keeping 
away  from  the  clumps  of  stunted  pine  as 
much  as  possible,  for  in  them  the  snow  lay 
deepest  and  was  most  fluffy. 

The  weather  was  bitterly  cold,  but  we 
were  warm  enough,  even  perspiring  from 
our  exertions.  Much  as  we  needed  to  stop 
and  rest  at  frequent  intervals,  it  was  impos 
sible  to  do  so,  for  the  instant  we  halted  we 
began  to  shiver.  More  than  once  we  were 
on  the  point  of  giving  up  the  hunt,  but  each 
time  the  thought  of  what  a  few  goat  hides 
meant  to  us  strengthened  our  legs  to  further 
endeavor. 

I  never  envied  a  bird  more  than  I  did  one 
that  I  saw  that  day.  A  Clark's  crow  it  was, 
raucous  of  voice  and  insolent,  that  kept 
flying  a  short  distance  ahead  of  us  and  light- 

'54 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ing  on  the  pines,  where  it  pretended  to  pick 
kernels  out  of  the  big  cones.  If  we  could 
only  fly  like  that,  I  kept  thinking,  within  a 
moment's  time  we  could  be  right  on  the 
goats. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  was  more 
bird  life  on  that  bleak,  cold  height  than  in 
the  forest  below.  One  variety  of  small, 
sweet  singers,  flying  all  round  us  in  large 
flocks,  was  especially  numerous.  I  wondered 
what  they  could  be.  Long  years  afterward  an 
ornithologist  told  me  that  they  were  gray- 
crowned  finches  —  arctic  birds  that  love 
the  winter  cold  and  are  happiest  in  a  snow 
drift. 

We  saw,  too,  many  chattering  flocks  of 
Bohemian  waxwings,  also  visitors  from  the 
arctic  regions.  Most  interesting  of  all  were 
the  ptarmigan,  small,  snow-white  grouse 
with  jet-black  eyes,  bill,  and  toes.  Never 
descending  to  the  valleys,  either  for  food  or 
shelter,  they  live  on  the  high,  bare  mountains 
the  year  round.  They  are  heavily  feathered 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

clear  to  the  toes,  so  that  their  feet  cannot 
freeze ;  and  at  night,  and  by  day,  too,  in 
severe  weather,  instead  of  roosting  in  the 
dwarf  pines  they  plunge  down  into  soft  snow, 
tunnel  under  the  surface  for  several  feet,  and 
then  tramp  a  chamber  large  enough  to  sit 
in.  These  birds  were  very  tame,  and  often 
allowed  us  to  get  within  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  of  them  before  flying  or  running  away. 
Some  were  saucy  and  made  a  great  fuss  at 
our  approach,  cocking  up  their  tails  and 
cackling,  and  even  making  a  feint  of  charg 
ing  us. 

At  last  we  came  walking  out  on  a  ledge 
that  ended  at  the  side  of  a  big  gouge  in  the 
mountain,  and  on  the  far  verge  of  it  saw  a 
goat,  a  big  old  fellow,  sitting  at  the  edge  of 
a  small  cliff.  It  was  sitting  down  on  its 
haunches,  just  as  a  dog  does.  Should  you  see 
a  cow,  a  sheep,  or  any  herbivorous  animal 
do  that,  you  would  think  his  position  ex 
tremely  ludicrous.  In  the  case  of  the  goat, 
because  of  its  strange  and  uncouth  shape,  it 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

is  more  than  ludicrous;  it  is  weird.  The 
animal  has  a  long,  broad-nosed  head,  set  ap 
parently  right  against  its  shoulders ;  a  long, 
flowing  beard  hangs  from  its  chin ;  its  withers 
are  extremely  high,  and  its  hams  low,  like 
those  of  the  buffalo.  Its  abnormally  long  hair 
flutters  round  its  knees  like  a  pair  of  em 
broidered  pantalets,  and  rises  eight  or  ten 
inches  in  length  above  the  shoulders.  The 
tail  is  short,  and  so  heavily  haired  that  it 
looks  like  a  thick  club.  Its  round,  scimitar- 
shaped  black  horns  rise  in  a  backward  curve 
from  the  thick,  fuzzy  coat,  and  seem  very 
small  for  the  big,  deep-chested  animal. 

The  goat  was  almost  as  new  to  Pitamakan 
as  to  me. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  it?"  he  ex 
claimed.  "  Do  you  think  it  is  sick,  or  hurt  ?" 

"He  looks  as  if  he  felt  very  sad/'  I  re 
plied. 

And  truly  the  animal  did  look  very  de 
jected,  its  head  sunk  on  its  brisket,  its  black 
eyes  staring  vacantly  at  the  valley  far  below, 

'57 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

as  if  it  were  burdened  with  all  the  pains  and 
sorrows  of  the  ages. 

We  were  so  interested  in  watching  it  that 
at  first  we  did  not  see  the  others,  thirteen  in 
all,  scattered  close  round  on  the  little  ledges 
above  him.  Some  were  standing,  others  lying 
down.  One  big  old  "  billy"  lay  under  a  low- 
branched  dwarf  pine,  and  now  and  then  would 
raise  its  head,  bite  off  a  mouthful  of  the  long, 
coarse  needles,  and  deliberately  chew  them. 
We  had  come  out  in  plain  view  of  the  band, 
and  now  wondered  that  they  had  not  seen  us 
and  run  away. 

"  Let 's  back  up  step  by  step  until  we  are 
in  the  shelter  of  the  pines  back  there,  then 
look  out  a  way  to  get  to  them/'  Pitamakan 
proposed. 

On  starting  to  do  so,  we  found  that  the 
goats  had  seen  us  all  the  time.  Two  or  three 
of  them  turned  their  heads  and  stared  at  us 
with  apparent  curiosity ;  the  old  billy  at  the 
edge  of  the  cliff  gave  us  one  vacant  stare, 
and  resumed  his  brooding ;  the  others  paid  no 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

attention  to  our  movements.  Unquestionably 
they  had  never  seen  man  before,  and  did  not 
consider  us  enemies  because  we  were  not 
four-legged,  like  the  beasts  that  preyed  upon 
them.  So  instead  of  backing  cautiously,  we 
turned  and  walked  into  the  little  clump  of 
pines,  and  beyond  them  to  a  deep  gutter, 
where  we  began  the  difficult  task  of  stalking 
the  animals.  We  had  to  climb  for  several 
hundred  yards  to  a  broad  ledge,  follow  it  for 
perhaps  twice  that  distance,  and  then  work 
our  way,  as  best  we  could,  straight  down  to 
the  goats. 

That  was  a  terrible  climb.  As  the  angle 
of  the  mountain  was  such  that  the  climb 
would  have  been  difficult  on  bare  rock,  you 
can  imagine  how  hard  it  was  to  go  up  in  the 
deep  snow.  Using  our  snowshoes  for  shovels 
and  taking  the  lead  in  turn,  we  fought  our 
way  through,  upward,  inch  by  inch.  More 
than  once  a  mass  of  snow  gave  way  above 
our  gouging,  and  swept  us  down  a  few  feet 
or  a  few  yards.  Once  Pitamakan  was  buried  so 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

deep  in  it  that  I  was  obliged  to  dig  him  out ; 
he  was  gasping  for  breath  by  the  time  I  un 
covered  his  head. 

On  the  ledge  the  going  was  so  level  that 
we  wore  our  snowshoes  a  part  of  the  way 
across,  and  then,  wading  to  a  point  directly 
above  the  goats,  we  began  the  descent.  That 
was  easy.  Straight  ahead  of  us  the  mountain 
dropped  in  a  series  of  little  shelves,  or  cliffs, 
down  which  we  could  easily  climb.  Stopping 
when  we  thought  we  were  near  to  the  goats, 
we  strung  our  bows  and  fitted  arrows  to  them. 
As  I  was  a  poor  shot,  I  took  but  one  arrow, 
to  be  used  only  in  an  emergency.  Pitamakan 
carried  the  other  four. 

In  a  few  moments  we  struck  a  deep  and 
well-packed  goat  trail  that  meandered  along 
a  shelf  thirty,  and  in  places  fifty  feet  wide. 
Here  and  there  were  clumps  of  dwarf  pine 
and  juniper  that  prevented  our  seeing  very 
far  ahead,  and  Pitamakan  gave  me  the  sign 
to  look  sharp  for  the  game. 

A  moment  later,  as  we  followed  the  trail 
1 60 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

round  some  pines,  we  came  face  to  face 
with  a  big  billy-goat.  The  instant  that  he 
saw  us  he  bristled  up  his  hair  and  came  for 
us.  Did  you  ever  see  a  wild  pig  prance  out 
for  a  fight  ?  Well,  that  is  the  way  that  goat 
came  at  us  —  head  down  and  prancing  side- 
wise.  I  don't  know  whether  we  were  more 
surprised  or  scared ;  probably  scared.  The 
sight  of  those  round,  sharp  black  horns  made 
our  flesh  creep ;  indeed,  the  whole  aspect  of 
the  uncouth  animal  was  terrifying. 

Coming  at  us  head  on,  there  was  little 
chance  for  an  arrow  to  do  any  damage  to  him. 

"  Run  out  that  way  ! "  Pitamakan  cried, 
as  he  gave  me  a  push.  "  I  '11  go  this  way  !  " 

There  was  not  any  running  about  it;  we 
waddled  to  one  side  and  the  other  from  the 
canon-like  trail  out  into  the  deep  snow,  and 
it  was  remarkable  what  progress  we  made. 
As  I  said,  the  goat  came  prancing  toward  us, 
not  jumping  full  speed,  as  he  might  have 
done,  so  that  we  had  plenty  of  time  to  get 
out  of  the  trail. 

161 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

When  he  came  opposite  he  seemed  unde 
cided  what  to  do  next.  We  did  not  give  him 
time  to  make  up  his  mind.  Pitamakan  let 
fly  an  arrow,  while  I  stood  ready  to  shoot  if 
need  be.  But  Pitamakan's  shaft  sped  true; 
the  old  billy  flinched  and  humped  himself, 
threw  up  his  head  with  a  pitiful,  silly  ex 
pression  of  surprise,  and  dropped  in  his  tracks. 
We  waded  back  into  the  trail  and  examined 
our  prize;  such  heavy,  thick,  long  hair  and 
fleece  I  had  never  seen  on  any  other  animal. 
At  the  base  of  the  sharp  horns  were  black, 
warty,  rubber-like  excrescences.  "  Smell 
them!"  Pitamakan  bade  me,  and  I  did. 
They  gave  off  an  exceedingly  rank  odor  of 
musk. 

Pitamakan  now  pulled  out  the  arrow;  it 
had  evidently  pierced  the  heart.  He  pro 
posed  that  we  go  after  the  band  and  kill  as 
many  as  possible ;  we  needed  at  least  four 
large,  or  six  small  skins  for  a  good  bed-robe. 

"  Well,  come  on,  lead  the  way,"  I  said. 

He  held  up  his  hand,  and  I  could  see  his 
162 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

eyes  grow  big  as  if  from  fear.  "  What  is  it  ?" 
I  asked. 

He  did  not  answer,  but  stood  anxiously 
looking  this  way  and  that,  and  soon  I,  too, 
heard  the  faint,  remote  droning  noise  that  had 
alarmed  him.  We  looked  at  the  mountain 
above  us,  and  at  others  near  and  far,  but  there 
was  nowhere  any  sign  of  an  avalanche. 

The  droning  noise  became  louder  and 
deeper,  filling  us  with  dread  all  the  more 
poignant  because  it  was  impossible  to  deter 
mine  the  cause. 

"  The  old  medicine-men  told  the  truth  !  " 
said  Pitamakan.  "These  mountains  are  no 
place  for  the  Blackfeet.  The  gods  that  dwell 
here  are  not  our  gods,  and  they  do  strange 
and  cruel  things  to  us  plains  people  when 
they  get  the  chance." 

I  had  nothing  to  say.  We  listened ;  the 
droning  grew  louder  ;  it  seemed  all  about  us, 
and  yet  we  could  see  nothing  unusual. 

"Come  on  !  "  Let's  get  away  from  here  !" 
Pitamakan  cried. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


"1T"W"  TTHERE  shall  we  go?"  I  asked. 

%/%/  "  This  noise  seems  to  come  from 
everywhere  and  nowhere." 

I  looked  up  at  the  top  of  the  mountain 
which  we  were  on,  and  saw  a  long  streak  of 
snow  extending  eastward  from  it  like  an 
immense  pennant. 

"  Look  !  It  is  nothing  but  the  wind  that 
is  making  that  noise ! "  I  exclaimed.  "  See 
how  it  is  driving  the  snow  up  there  ! " 

"Yes,"  Pitamakan  agreed.  "But  listen. 
The  sound  of  its  blowing  does  not  come 
from  there  any  more  than  from  elsewhere. 
It  comes  from  every  direction  up  there  in 
the  blue." 

We  could  now  see  snow  flying  from  the 
tops  of  the  mountains  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  valley.  In  a  few  moments  the  whole 
summit  of  the  range  was  lost  in  a  vast  haze 
of  drifting,  flying  snow.  But  where  we  were 

164 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

there  was  only  a  gentle  breeze  from  the 
west,  which  did  not  increase  in  force.  I  re 
membered  now  that  in  winter,  when  fierce 
northwest  winds  blew  across  the  plains,  the 
summit  of  the  Rockies  was  always  hidden  by 
grayish-white  clouds.  It  was  a  strange  sensa 
tion  to  hear  the  drone  of  a  terrific  wind  and 
not  feel  it,  and  I  said  so. 

"  Everything  is  strange  in  this  country," 
my  partner  said,  dully.  "  Here  Wind-Maker 
lives;  and  many  another  of  the  mountain 
and  forest  gods.  We  have  to  make  strong 
medicine,  brother,  to  escape  them." 

This  was  the  first  of  the  terrific  winter 
winds  that  blow  across  the  Northwest  plains. 
Many  a  time  thereafter  we  heard  the  strange 
roaring  sound  that  seemed  to  come  from 
nowhere  in  particular ;  but  down  in  the 
valley,  and  even  high  up  on  the  sides 
of  the  mountains,  near  the  lodge,  there 
was  never  more  than  a  gentle  breeze.  Pita- 
makan  was  always  depressed  when  we  heard 
the  strange  roaring,  and  it  made  me  feel 

165 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

nervous  and  apprehensive  of  I  knew  not 
what. 

We  waded  and  slid  and  fell  down  to  the 
next  ledge,  and  there,  working  our  way  to 
the  edge,  we  saw  some  of  the  goats  right 
beneath  us.  There  were  seven  of  them, — 
old  "nannies,"  two  kids,  and  "billies"  one 
and  two  years  old,  —  all  in  a  close  bunch 
not  more  than  twenty  feet  below  us.  Instead 
of  running,  they  stood  and  stared  up  at  us 
vacuously,  while  their  concave  faces  seemed 
to  heighten  their  expression  of  stupid  won 
der. 

Pitamakan  shot  one  of  the  nannies.  At 
the  same  time  I  drew  my  bow  on  one  of 
the  goats,  but  on  second  thought  eased  it,  for 
I  might  waste  a  precious  arrow.  I  had  to 
use  all  my  will  power  in  denying  myself 
that  chance  to  add  another  animal  to  my 
list  of  trophies. 

Pitamakan  was  not  wasting  any  time  : 
Zip  !  Zip  !  Zip  !  he  sped  his  remaining  ar 
rows,  reached  out  for  one  of  mine,  and  shot 

166 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

it  just  as  an  old  nannie,  awaking  to  the  fact 
that  something  was  wrong  with  her  kindred, 
started  off  to  the  left  at  a  lumbering  gallop, 
more  ungainly  and  racking  than  that  of  a 
steer.  Here  was  success,  indeed  !  I  was  so 
excited  that  I  went  aimlessly  from  one  to 
another  of  the  goats,  feeling  of  their  heavy 
coats  and  smooth,  sharp  horns. 

Having  dressed  the  animals,  we  dragged 
them  from  the  ledges  out  on  the  steep  slide, 
where  we  fastened  them  one  to  another  in  a 
novel  way.  Making  a  slit  down  the  lower 
joint  of  a  hind  leg,  we  thrust  a  fore  leg  of 
the  next  animal  through  it,  —  between  ten 
don  and  bone,  —  then  slit  the  fore  leg  in 
the  same  manner,  and  stuck  a  stick  in  it  so 
that  it  could  not  slip  out.  We  soon  had  all 
five  animals  fastened  in  line,  and  then  taking 
the  first  one  by  the  horns,  we  started  down. 

The  deep  snow  was  now  a  help  instead 
of  a  hindrance ;  for  it  kept  our  tow  of  game 
from  sliding  too  fast  down  the  tremendously 
steep  incline.  Knowing  that  we  were  likely 

167 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

to  start  an  avalanche,  we  kept  as  close  to  the 
edge  of  the  timber  as  we  could.  Even  so, 
I  had  the  feeling  which  a  man  has  while 
walking  on  thin  ice  over  deep  water.  I  tried 
to  push  cautiously  through  the  snow,  and 
looked  back  anxiously  whenever  the  game  in 
a  particularly  steep  place  came  sliding  down 
on  us  by  the  mere  pull  of  its  own  weight. 

Pitamakan  was  less  apprehensive.  "  If  a 
slide  starts,  we  can  probably  get  out  of  it  by 
making  a  rush  for  the  timber,"  he  said. 
"  Anyhow,  what  is  to  be  will  be,  so  don't 
worry." 

We  came  safe  to  the  foot  of  the  slide,  but 
had  time  to  skin  only  one  goat  before  dark ; 
it  was  slow  work  with  our  obsidian  knives. 
As  we  could  not  safely  leave  the  others  un 
protected  from  the  prowlers  during  the 
night,  we  laid  them  side  by  side  on  a  heap 
of  balsam  boughs,  where  the  air  could  circu 
late  all  round  them,  and  Pitamakan  hung 
his  capote  on  a  stick  right  over  them,  in 
order  that  the  sight  and  odor  of  it  might 

168 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

prevent  any  wandering  lion,  lynx,  or  wolver 
ene  from  robbing  us.  To  go  without  his 
capote  in  such  cold  weather  was  certainly  a 
sacrifice  on  Pitamakan's  part. 

If  I  am  asked  why  we  took  pains  to  lay 
the  game  on  boughs,  the  answer  is  that, 
although  any  one  would  think  that  snow 
would  be  a  natural  refrigerator,  the  opposite 
is  the  case,  for  freshly  killed  animals  will 
spoil  in  a  few  hours  if  they  are  buried  in  it. 

To  keep  from  freezing,  Pitamakan  hur 
ried  on  to  camp,  while  I  followed  slowly 
with  the  goatskin  and  head.  There  was  not 
time  to  take  the  lion  or  marten  from  the 
deadfalls. 

When  I  got  to  the  lodge,  Pitamakan  had 
a  fire  burning  and  the  last  of  the  cow  elk 
ribs  roasting  over  it.  We  were  wet  to  the 
skin,  of  course,  but  that  did  not  matter.  Off 
came  our  few  garments,  to  be  hung  a  short 
time  over  the  fire  and  then  put  on  again. 
How  cheerful  and  restful  it  was  to  stretch 
out  on  our  balsam  beds  and  enjoy  the  heat 

169 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

after  the  long  day's  battle  with  snow  and 
precipitous  mountain-sides ! 

The  next  day,  and  for  many  days  there 
after,  we  had  much  work  to  keep  us  busy. 
We  skinned  the  goats,  tanned  the  hides  into 
soft  robes,  and  sewed  them  together  in  the 
form  of  a  big  bag,  with  the  fur  side  in.  The 
night  on  which  we  crawled  into  it  for  the 
first  time  was  a  great  occasion.  On  that 
night,  for  the  very  first  time  since  leaving 
the  Blackfoot  camp,  we  slept  perfectly  warm 
and  without  waking  with  shivers  to  rebuild 
the  fire. 

The  deadfalls  also  took  a  great  deal  of  our 
time.  Every  night  some  of  them  were  sprung, 
and  we  found  from  one  to  three  or  four  val 
uable  fur  animals  under  the  drop-bars.  It 
was  a  tedious  job  to  skin  them  and  properly 
stretch  the  pelts  to  dry,  but  for  all  that,  we 
loved  the  work  and  were  proud  of  the  re 
sult.  Here  and  there  in  the  lodge  a  few  mar 
ten,  fisher,  wolverene,  and  lynx  skins  were 
always  drying,  and  in  a  corner  the  pile  of 

170 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

cured  peltries  was  steadily  growing.  Three 
of  them  were  of  mountain  lions. 

During  this  time  much  more  snow  fell ; 
it  was  fully  six  feet  deep  in  the  woods  when 
the  last  of  the  elk  hams  was  broiled  and 
eaten.  For  a  day  or  two  we  subsisted  on  goat 
meat,  although  the  best  of  it  had  a  slight 
musky  odor  and  flavor.  As  Pitamakan  said, 
it  was  not  real  food. 

As  our  bows  were  not  nearly  so  strong  as 
they  looked,  my  partner  was  always  wishing 
for  glue,  so  that  we  might  back  them  with 
sinew.  There  was  material  enough  for  glue, 
but  there  was  nothing  to  make  it  in. 

"The  Mandans  made  pots  of  earth,"  I 
said  to  him  one  day.  "  Perhaps  we  can  make 
one  that  will  stand  fire  and  water." 

Out  we  went  along  the  river  to  look  for 
clay.  At  the  first  cut-bank  that  we  came  to 
I  gouged  off  the  snow  that  thinly  coated  its 
perpendicular  side,  and  lo  !  there  was  a  layer 
of  clay  six  inches  thick  between  two  layers 
of  gravel.  We  broke  out  several  large  flat 

171 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

chunks  of  the  stuff,  —  it  was  frozen,  of 
course,  —  and  carried  it  to  the  lodge.  There, 
breaking  it  into  fine  pieces  and  thawing  it, 
we  added  a  small  amount  of  water,  and 
worked  it  into  a  stiff  paste  of  the  right  con 
sistency,  as  we  thought,  for  moulding. 

Pitamakan,  always  artistic,  fashioned  a 
thin  bowl  like  those  that  he  had  seen  in  the 
Mandan  village,  while  I  made  mine  an  inch 
thick,  with  a  capacity  of  not  more  than  two 
quarts.  When  we  baked  them  in  the  coals, 
mine  cracked,  and  Pitamakan's  fell  to  pieces. 

That  was  discouraging ;  evidently  the  clay 
was  not  of  the  right  consistency.  I  worked 
up  another  portion  of  clay  with  less  water, 
while  my  partner  added  even  more  water  than 
before  to  his  batch.  We  each  soon  had  a 
bowl  fashioned  and  put  to  bake.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  one  which  Pitamakan  had  made 
fell  to  pieces,  but  mine,  which  was  thick  and 
clumsy  in  shape,  seemed  to  stand  the  heat 
well.  I  gradually  increased  the  fire  round  it, 
and  after  keeping  the  blaze  up  for  a  long 

172 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

time,  I  allowed  the  fire  at  last  to  die  out 
gradually.  The  bowl  turned  out  fairly  well ; 
for  although  it  had  one  crack  in  the  side,  it 
was  dark  red  in  color,  and  gave  a  substantial 
ring  when  we  tapped  it  with  a  stick. 

However,  we  took  no  chances  of  a  mis 
hap  by  moving  it.  We  plastered  the  crack 
with  fresh  clay,  and  then,  putting  into  it 
nearly  a  quart  of  water,  an  elk  hoof  and  a 
couple  of  goat  hoofs,  we  rebuilt  the  fire  just 
close  enough  to  make  the  mixture  simmer, 
and  adding  more  water  from  time  to  time 
during  the  day,  patiently  awaited  results. 

"  Ai-y  !  It  is  real  glue  !  "  Pitamakan  ex 
claimed  that  evening,  after  dipping  a  stick  in 
the  mess  and  testing  it  with  his  fingers.  We 
were  quite  excited  and  proud  of  our  success. 
Softening  the  four  elk  sinews  in  the  hot 
glue,  Pitamakan  then  plastered  a  pair  of 
them  on  each  bow.  The  place  where  the 
ends  overlapped  at  the  centre,  he  bound  with 
a  sinew  wrapping. 

Of  course  the  bows  were  unstrung  when 
173 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  backing  was  put  on,  and  as  soon  as  the 
work  was  done,  we  laid  them  away  from 
the  fire,  that  they  might  dry  slowly.  In  the 
morning,  the  first  thing,  after  crawling  out 
of  our  fur  nest,  we  strung  and  tested  them, 
and  found  that  the  backing  had  more  than 
doubled  their  strength  and  elasticity.  Now 
we  were  ready  to  hunt  our  winter  meat,  and 
after  a  hurried  breakfast  of  musky  goat  steak, 
we  started  in  quest  of  the  game. 

Not  since  the  day  of  the  goat  hunt  had 
we  seen  any  tracks  of  moose,  elk,  or  deer. 
Pitamakan  said  that  he  had  heard  that  the 
deer  went  from  the  high  mountains  down 
toward  the  lake  of  the  Flatheads  to  winter, 
and  that  we  need  not  expect  to  see  any  more 
of  them.  But  he  added  that  it  did  not  mat 
ter,  for  other  game  would  yard  close  round 
the  lodge. 

Taking  a  zigzag  course  and  examining 
every  red  willow  patch  along  our  route,  we 
went  down  the  valley.  As  it  was  a  stinging 
cold  day,  we  had  our  hands  tucked  up  in 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  sleeves  of  our  capotes,  and  our  bows  and 
arrows  under  our  arms,  for  as  yet  we  had  no 
mittens.  Our  legs  suffered,  too,  from  need  of 
new  coverings. 

The  first  game  that  we  saw  was  an  otter, 
fishing  in  a  dark  pool  at  the  foot  of  a  rapid. 
He  would  crawl  out  on  the  ice  fringing  it, 
sit  still  for  a  moment,  sniffing  the  air  and 
looking  sharp  for  any  enemy,  and  then  make 
a  sudden  dive.  We  watched  him  until  he 
had  brought  up  a  big  trout  and  had  begun 
to  eat  it,  when  we  turned  away  without  the 
animal  seeing  us.  Except  at  close  range,  the 
otter's  eyesight  is  poor,  but  he  has  a  keen 
nose  and  sharp  ears.  Later  we  intended  to 
set  a  deadfall  for  him,  if  by  any  means  we 
could  catch  fish  to  bait  it. 

A  mile  or  more  below  the  lodge  we  came 
to  a  deep,  hard-packed  trail,  which  wound 
and  branched  in  every  direction  through  a 
big  red-willow  thicket,  which  we  guessed  to 
be  a  moose  yard.  In  many  places  the  willows 
had  been  browsed  off  as  far  out  from  the 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

paths  as  the  animals  could  stretch  their 
necks.  Here  and  there  were  large,  hard- 
packed  circular  depressions  in  the  snow  where 
they  had  lain  down  to  rest  and  sleep,  always, 
I  imagine,  with  one  of  their  number  on  the 
watch  for  any  prowling  mountain  lion. 

We  went  down  through  the  centre  of  the 
yard,  although  we  had  some  difficulty  in 
crossing  the  deep  trails  on  our  snowshoes. 
Soon  we  sighted  the  game  —  two  cow 
moose,  two  calves,  and  two  yearlings.  The 
instant  that  they  saw  us  the  old  lead  cow 
trotted  away  down  the  trail,  leading  the 
others,  and  then  by  turning  into  every  suc 
cessive  left-hand  fork,  tried  to  circle  round 
behind  us.  When  we  headed  her  off,  she 
turned  and  tried  to  circle  round  us  in  the 
other  direction.  Then  Pitamakan  and  I  sep 
arated,  and  in  that  way  drove  the  little  band 
steadily  ahead  of  us,  until  it  reached  the 
lower  end  of  the  yard. 

There,  with  a  tremendous  leap,  the  old 
cow  broke  out  of  the  yard  into  the  fresh 

176 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

snow,  and  the  way  she  made  it  fly  behind 
her  reminded  me  of  the  stern  wheel  of  a 
Missouri  River  steamboat  beating  up  spray. 
All  the  others  followed  her  until  we  came 
close,  when  all  but  her  calf  wheeled  in  the 
new  path  and  rushed  back  for  the  yard. 

They  were  so  close  to  us  that  we  might 
almost  have  touched  them.  Pitamakan  shot 
an  arrow  deep  between  the  ribs  of  the  cow, 
and  by  a  lucky  aim  I  put  my  one  arrow  into 
the  calf  behind  her.  Both  of  them  fell,  but 
the  two  yearlings,  scrambling  over  their 
bodies,  escaped  into  the  yard. 

We  went  on  in  pursuit  of  the  other  cow 
and  her  calf.  The  strength  that  she  displayed 
in  breaking  her  way  through  six  feet  of 
snow  was  wonderful.  For  at  least  three  hun 
dred  yards  she  went  faster  than  we  could  go 
on  our  web  shoes,  but  after  that  she  gave 
out  rapidly,  and  finally  stopped  altogether. 

When  we  came  close  to  her,  she  plunged 
back  past  the  calf  and  stood  awaiting  us,  de 
termined  to  protect  it  to  the  last.  All  the 

177 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

hair  on  her  shoulders  and  back  was  ruffed 
and  bristling  forward,  while  her  eyes  blazed 
with  anger,  although  there  was  also  in  them 
the  look  of  terror  and  despair.  When  we 
got  close  to  her,  she  rushed  at  us.  We  had 
to  do  some  lively  scrambling  to  keep  out  of 
her  way.  But  she  soon  tired,  and  then  while 
I  attracted  her  attention,  Pitamakan  slipped 
round  on  the  other  side  of  her.  As  his  bow- 
cord  twanged,  she  dropped  her  head,  and 
the  light  almost  instantly  went  out  of  her 
eyes.  The  poor  calf  met  the  same  fate  a  mo 
ment  later.  It  was  cruel  work,  but  as  neces 
sary  as  it  was  cruel ;  we  killed  that  we  might 
live. 

There  remained  the  two  yearlings,  and  I 
proposed  that  we  spare  them.  Pitamakan 
looked  at  me  with  surprise. 

"What!  Let  them  go?"  he  exclaimed. 
"And  many  winter  moons  yet  before  us? 
Why,  brother,  you  talk  foolishly !  Of  course 
we  must  kill  them.  Even  then  we  may  not 
have  enough  meat  to  last  until  spring." 

178 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

So  we  chased  them  also  out  into  deep 
snow,  and  did  as  he  said.  By  the  time  we 
had  one  calf  skinned  we  were  obliged  to  go 
home  and  gather  the  night's  wood. 

The  next  day  we  skinned  the  rest  of  the 
animals,  cut  up  the  meat,  and  hung  it  in 
trees,  whence  it  could  be  packed  home  from 
time  to  time.  Two  of  the  hides  we  put  to 
soak  in  the  river,  preparatory  to  graining  and 
tanning  them.  The  others  we  stretched  on 
frames  and  allowed  to  freeze  dry,  after  which 
we  laid  them  on  our  couch. 

During  the  short  days  we  tended  the  dead 
falls,  skinned  and  stretched  what  fur  was 
trapped  in  them,  packed  in  meat  and  hung 
it  beside  the  lodge,  and  tanned  the  two  hides. 
Having  done  the  tanning  successfully,  we 
went  into  the  tailoring  business.  Pitamakan 
cut  pieces  of  proper  shape  from  the  big,  soft 
skins,  but  in  the  work  of  sewing  I  did  my 
share.  After  three  or  four  evenings'  work, 
we  were  the  proud  wearers  of  new  shirts, 
new  leggings,  and  new  mittens. 

179 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Our  earthen  pot  fell  to  pieces  the  day  after 
we  had  made  glue  in  it.  That  was  a  serious 
loss,  for  we  had  intended  to  boil  meat  in  it. 
Roasted  meat  is  good,  but  does  not  do  so 
well  as  a  steady  diet.  The  Indians  of  the 
North  regard  boiled  meat  as  we  regard  bread, 
that  is,  as  the  staff  of  life.  Pitamakan,  who 
craved  it  more  than  I,  determined,  now  that 
we  had  plenty  of  hides,  to  use  a  part  of  one 
for  a  kettle.  From  one  of  the  yearling  moose 
hides  he  cut  a  large,  round  piece,  soaked  it 
in  the  river  until  it  was  soft,  and  then  sewed 
the  edge  in  pleats  to  a  birch  hoop  about  two 
feet  in  diameter,  so  as  to  make  a  stiff-rimmed 
bag  about  as  deep  as  it  was  wide.  With  a 
strip  of  hide  he  suspended  it  from  a  pole  in 
the  lodge  roof. 

Next  he  set  several  clean  stones  in  the  fire 
to  heat,  and  put  some  rather  finely  cut  meat 
in  the  bag  with  two  quarts  of  water.  When 
the  rocks  were  red-hot,  he  dropped  them 
one  by  one  into  the  bag,  and  pulled  them 
out  to  reheat  as  fast  as  they  cooled.  In  this 

1 80 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

way  the  meat  was  boiled.  Such  was  the  an 
cient  way  of  cooking  it  before  the  white 
traders  brought  pots  and  kettle  into  the 
North  country. 

The  meat  was  not  cooked  long,  only  long 
enough,  in  fact  to  change  its  color,  and  was 
really  more  nutritious  than  it  would  have 
been  had  it  been  stewed  a  long  time.  We 
enjoyed  that  first  meal  of  it  with  keen  relish, 
and  thereafter  ate  more  boiled  than  roasted 
meat. 

As  the  winter  snows  settled  and  hardened, 
we  saw  more  and  more  trails  of  otter  along 
the  river,  where  they  traveled  from  one  open 
hole  to  another  to  do  their  fishing,  and  one 
day  we  began  our  campaign  against  them  by 
going  fishing  ourselves.  Our  tackle  consisted 
of  a  sinew  cord  and  loop  several  feet  long, 
tied  to  a  long,  slender  pole. 

In  the  first  open  pool  that  we  looked  into 
there  were  numerous  trout  and  suckers;  of 
course  we  tried  first  to  snare  the  trout.  We 
soon  learned,  however,  that  it  could  not  be 

181 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

done,  for  they  would  not  allow  the  loop  to 
come  nearer  than  five  or  six  inches  to  their 
heads,  but  always  drifted  downstream  from 
it  in  a  tantalizing  manner. 

Next,  trying  the  suckers,  big,  reddish- 
black  fellows  of  two  pounds'  weight,  we 
found  them  easy  to  snare.  They  lay  as  if 
they  were  half  dead,  their  bellies  close  to  the 
bottom,  and  never  moved  when  the  loop 
drifted  down  round  their  heads,  thinking, 
no  doubt,  that  it  was  but  a  piece  of  passing 
water-grass.  When  the  noose  was  just  behind 
the  gills,  we  gave  the  pole  a  sharp  yank, 
and  up  came  the  fish,  wriggling  and  flap 
ping,  helpless  in  the  grip  of  the  tightened 
cord. 

After  we  caught  three  of  them,  we  spent 
the  rest  of  the  morning  setting  a  deadfall  at 
each  of  three  pools  where  the  otters  were 
working.  But  for  some  time  afterward  we 
got  no  otters;  of  all  animals  they  are  the 
shyest  and  most  difficult  to  trap.  It  was  not 
until  all  traces  of  the  man  scent  had  died  out 

182 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

that  one  was  finally  lured  by  the  sucker  bait, 
and  was  killed  by  the  fall-bar. 

As  time  passed,  we  set  more  and  more  dead 
falls  up  and  down  the  valley,  so  many  that 
finally  we  could  not  make  the  round  of  them 
all  in  one  day.  One  morning  we  would  attend 
to  those  lying  east  of  the  lodge,  and  the  next 
morning  visit  those  to  the  west  of  it.  The 
farthest  one  to  the  west  was  at  least  seven  miles 
away,  and  for  some  unknown  reason  more 
fur  came  to  it  than  to  any  of  the  others ;  we 
seldom  visited  it  without  finding  a  marten  or 
a  fisher.  Pitamakan  called  it  the  nat-o-wap-i 
kyak-ach-is  —  medicine-trap,  as  the  words 
may  be  freely  translated.  Nat-o-wap-i  really 
means  "  of  the  sun"  —  "sun-power." 

As  we  approached  this  deadfall  one  day, 
when  we  had  taken  nothing  from  the  other 
traps  except  a  marten  that  a  passing  fisher 
had  maliciously  torn  to  shreds,  Pitamakan 
began  the  coyote  prayer  song,  because,  as  he 
said,  something  had  to  be  done  to  bring  us 
better  luck. 

183 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  soon  saw  the  deadfall,  noticed  that  the 
bar  was  down,  and  hurried  eagerly  forward 
to  see  what  it  held,  while  my  partner  sang 
louder  than  ever.  On  coming  to  it,  we  found 
a  fine,  black,  fluffy-furred  fisher ;  whereupon 
Pitamakan  raised  his  hand  and  began  chant 
ing  a  prayer  of  thanks  to  the  gods. 

Meanwhile  I  saw,  a  little  farther  on,  a  trail 
in  the  snow  which  excited  my  interest,  and  I 
impatiently  waited  for  him  to  finish  his  devo 
tions  to  call  his  attention  to  it. 

"  Look  !  There 's  the  trail  of  a  bear  !  "  I 
said,  although  it  seemed  odd  to  me  that  a 
bear  should  be  wandering  round  in  the  dead 
of  winter. 

We  hurried  over  to  it.  What  we  saw  made 
us  stare  wildly  round  with  fright,  while  we 
quickly  strung  our  bows.  It  was  the  trail  of 
a  man  on  long,  narrow  web  shoes  —  an  In 
dian,  of  course,  and  therefore  an  enemy.  The 
trail  was  fresh,  too,  apparently  as  fresh  as  our 
own.  And  but  a  moment  before,  Pitamakan 
had  been  singing  at  the  top  of  his  voice ! 


CHAPTER   IX 

CROSSING  the  valley  from  south  to 
north  in  front  of  us,  the  snowshoe 
trail   disappeared,  a   hundred   yards 
away,  in   a   clump  of  pines.    The  Indian, 
brushing  against  a  branch,  had  relieved  it  of 
its  weight  of  snow,  and  its  dark  green  foli 
age  stood  out  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  pre 
vailing  white.    There  was  a  chance  that  he 
might  still  be  in  that  thicket. 

"We  must  know  if  he  is  there,"  said 
Pitamakan.  "Though  he  didn't  hear  us  we 
must  still  know  whence  this  enemy  came, 
and  why,  and  where  he  is  going." 

We  began  by  going  cautiously  round  the 
pines.  From  a  distance,  we  could  see  the  trail 
coming  out  of  them  on  the  farther  side  and 
going  on  straight  to  the  river,  where  the  water 
fell  in  cascades  over  a  wide  series  of  low, 
broken  reefs.  From  there  the  trail  followed 
the  edge  of  the  open  water  down  past  the 

185 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

last  of  the  falls,  and  then  showed  plain  on  the 
frozen  river  as  far  as  we  could  see. 

Venturing  now  to  follow  it  to  the  cascades, 
we  learned  at  a  glance,  on  arriving  there,  why 
the  lone  traveler  had  come  into  our  peaceful 
valley.  At  the  edge  of  the  water  the  snow 
was  all  trampled  down,  and  the  prints  of  bare 
feet  in  it  showed  that  the  man  had  been 
wading  in  the  river.  Scattered  on  the  packed 
snow  were  several  fragments  of  dark  green 
rock,  one  of  which  Pitamakan  picked  up  and 
examined. 

"This  is  what  he  came  after,"  he  said. 
"It  is  pipestone  and  very  soft.  Both  the 
Kootenays  and  the  Flatheads  make  their  pipes 
of  it  because  it  is  so  easily  worked  into  shape." 

"Where  do  you  think  he  came  from?" 
I  asked. 

"From  the  camp  of  his  people.  These 
mountain  Indians  winter  down  along  their 
big  lake.  Very  little  snow  falls  there,  and 
horse-feed  is  always  good." 

"  Well,  if  he  came  from  down  there,  why 
186 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

do  we  find  his   trail   to  this  place  coining 
straight  across  the  valley  from  the  south  ? " 

"  Ah,  that  is  so  ! "  Pitamakan  exclaimed. 
"  Come  on!  We  must  find  out  about  that." 

We  took  the  man's  back  trail,  and,  pass 
ing  our  deadfall,  paused  to  note  how  plainly 
it  could  be  seen  from  several  points  along  the 
way.  It  was  a  wonder  that  he  had  noticed 
neither  the  deadfall  nor  our  hard-packed, 
snowshoe  trail. 

"  The  gods  were  certainly  good  to  us !  " 
my  partner  exclaimed.  "  They  caused  him 
to  look  the  other  way  as  he  passed/' 

The  back  trail  led  us  straight  to  the  foot 
of  the  steep  mountain  rising  from  the  valley. 
There,  in  several  places,  the  snow  was  scraped 
away  to  the  ground,  where  evidently  the 
man  had  searched  for  the  pipestone  ledge 
that  was  probably  exposed  somewhere  near. 
Failing  to  find  it,  he  had  been  obliged  to  go 
to  the  river  and  wade  to  the  place  where  it 
again  cropped  out.  His  trail  to  the  side  hill 
came  straight  up  the  valley. 

187 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

We  certainly  had  something  to  think  and 
talk  about  now — and  also  to  worry  about. 
Others  of  the  enemy  might  come  after  pipe- 
stone,  and  there  was  our  trail  running  straight 
to  the  place.  Going  back  to  the  deadfall,  we 
took  out  the  fisher,  but  did  not  reset  the  trap ; 
for  we  determined  not  to  go  thereafter  within 
several  miles  of  the  pipestone  falls.  Another 
heavy  snowfall  would  pretty  much  obliterate 
our  trail,  and  we  prayed  that  it  would  soon 
come.  From  that  day,  indeed,  our  sense  of 
peace  and  security  was  gone. 

Sitting  within  the  lodge,  we  always  had  the 
feeling  that  the  enemy  might  be  close  by,  wait 
ing  to  shoot  us  when  we  stepped  outside.  On 
the  daily  rounds  of  our  traps  we  were  ever 
watching  places  where  a  foe  might  be  lying 
in  wait.  Pitamakan  said  that  the  only  thing 
for  us  to  do  was  to  make  strong  medicine. 
Accordingly,  he  gave  our  bearskin  to  the  sun ; 
he  lashed  it  firmly  in  the  fork  of  a  tree,  and 
made  a  strong  prayer  to  the  shining  god  to 
guard  us  from  being  ambushed  by  the  enemy. 

188 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Although  we  had  long  since  lost  track  of 
the  days  of  the  week,  we  agreed  in  thinking 
that  the  discovery  of  the  man's  trail  took 
place  in  "  the  moon  before  the  moon  when 
the  web-feet  come  "  ;  or,  as  the  white  man 
would  say,  in  February.  At  the  end  of  the 
next  moon,  then,  —  in  March,  —  spring 
would  come  on  the  plains.  Up  where  we 
were,  however,  the  snow  would  last  much 
longer  —  probably  until  May.  Pitamakan 
said  that  we  must  leave  the  valley  long  be 
fore  then,  because  with  the  first  signs  of 
spring  the  deer  would  be  working  back  into 
the  high  mountains,  and  the  Kootenays  would 
follow  them. 

"  How  can  we  do  that  when,  as  you  say, 
the  pass  cannot  be  crossed  until  summer  ? " 
I  asked. 

"  There  is  another  pass  to  the  south  of  us," 
he  replied,  "  the  Two  Medicine  pass.  There 
is  no  dangerous  place  anywhere  along  it." 

"  Then  we  can  easily  get  out  of  here  !  "  I 
exclaimed.  "Let  us  start  soon." 

189 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

He  shook  his  head.  "No,"  he  said.  "We 
can't  go  until  the  snow  melts  from  the  low 
country  where  the  Kootenays  and  Flatheads 
winter.  We  have  to  go  down  there  to  make 
our  start  on  the  Two  Medicine  trail." 

"  Why  so  ? "  said  I,  in  surprise.  "  Why 
can't  we  go  straight  south  from  here  until 
we  strike  it?" 

He  laughed  grimly. 

"  Between  us  and  the  trail  lie  many  canons 
and  many  mountains  that  none  but  the  birds 
can  cross.  Besides,  along  each  stream  is  a 
trail  used  by  these  Indians  in  their  hunts  up 
toward  the  backbone  of  the  range,  which  is 
like  the  trail  that  crosses  over  to  the  Two 
Medicine.  I  could  not  recognize  the  right 
one  when  we  came  to  it,  and  we  should  fol 
low  up  one  after  another,  and  wear  ourselves 
out.  I  remember  some  landmarks  only  where 
the  right  trail  leaves  the  lake  and  enters  the 
heavy  timber,  and  from  that  place  we  have 
to  start.  Also,  we  have  to  start  from  there  on 
bare  ground ;  for  if  we  started  on  the  snow, 

190 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

our  trail  would  be  seen  and  followed,  and 
that  would  be  the  end  for  us." 

"  Well,  then,  let 's  go  up  and  look  at  the 
summit  of  our  pass,"  I  proposed.  "  It  may 
not  be  so  bad  as  you  think.  Perhaps  we 
can  find  some  way  to  cross  the  dangerous 
place." 

He  objected  that  we  should  waste  our 
time,  but  I  kept  urging  that  we  must  over 
look  no  possible  chance  to  escape  to  the 
plains,  until  finally  I  persuaded  him.  One 
bright  morning  we  put  on  our  snowshoes 
and  started.  As  the  going  was  good  on  the 
deep,  settled  snow,  we  were  not  long  in  cov 
ering  the  distance  to  the  Salt  Springs.  Up 
and  down  the  mountainside,  all  round  them, 
was  a  perfect  network  of  goat  trails  in  the 
snow,  and  here  and  there  were  large  and 
small  groups  of  the  strange,  uncouth  animals, 
some  lying  down,  some  sitting  and  staring 
dejectedly  off  into  space,  while  still  others 
were  cropping  lichens  from  wind-swept, 
rocky  walls.  Although  several  of  them  were 

191 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

less  than  three  hundred  yards  away,  they  paid 
no  attention  to  us. 

After  watching  some  that  were  feeding  on 
the  cliff  wall,  where  they  looked  as  if  they 
were  pasted  to  it,  we  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  they  could  travel  where  a  bighorn  would 
certainly  fall  and  be  dashed  to  pieces.  One 
old  billy-goat  was  almost  human  in  the  way 
in  which  he  got  over  difficult  places.  After 
standing  on  his  hind  legs  and  gathering  all 
the  lichen  within  reach  he  concluded  to  as 
cend  to  the  next  shelf.  Since  there  was  not 
room  for  him  to  back  away  for  a  leap,  he 
placed  his  forefeet  over  the  edge,  and  drew 
himself  up  on  to  it  —  exactly  as  a  man  draws 
himself  up  by  the  sheer  muscular  strength  of 
his  arms. 

Not  far  beyond  the  springs,  we  left  the 
last  of  the  timber  and  began  the  ascent  of  the 
summit  proper,  and  soon  came  into  the  zone 
of  terrific  winds;  but  fortunately  for  us,  there 
was  scarce  a  breath  stirring  that  day.  The 
snow  was  so  hard-packed  by  the  wind  that 

192 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

when  we  removed  our  snowshoes,  our  mocca- 
sined  feet  left  no  impressions  in  it.  The  rocky 
slopes  facing  the  northwest  were  absolutely 
bare,  while  those  pitching  the  other  way  lay 
buried  under  drifts  from  five  to  fifty  feet  and 
more  in  depth. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  we  came  to  the  west 
end  of  the  pass,  having  made  twice  as  good 
time  in  the  ascent  as  we  had  in  the  descent 
in  the  autumn  with  horses.  I  needed  but 
one  glance  at  the  place  to  be  convinced  that 
it  was  impassable.  The  steep  slide  where  my 
horse  and  I  had  so  nearly  been  lost  was  buried 
deep  in  snow  ;  towering  above  it  were  heavy, 
greenish,  concave  drifts  of  snow  clinging  to 
the  knife-edge  wall  and  likely  to  topple  over 
at  any  moment.  Our  weight  might,  and 
probably  would,  start  an  avalanche  rushing 
down  the  slide  and  off  into  abysmal  space. 
We  stood  in  the  trail  of  several  goats,  which 
had  ventured  out  on  the  slide  for  a  few 
yards,  abruptly  turned  and  retraced  their 
steps. 

193 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"Even  they  feared  to  cross,"  said  Pitama- 
kan.  " Come  on !  Let's  go  home." 

I  was  so  disappointed  that  I  had  not  a  word 
to  say  on  the  way  down.  We  reached  the 
lodge  late  in  the  night,  made  sure  that  no 
one  had  been  near  it  during  our  absence,  and 
after  building  a  good  fire  and  eating  some 
roast  meat,  crawled  into  our  fur  bag,  nearly 
worn  out.  It  had  been  a  long,  hard  day. 

At  this  time  our  catch  of  fur  began  to  de 
crease  rapidly.  It  is  my  belief  that  the  pre 
datory  as  well  as  the  herbivorous  animals 
never  stray  very  far  from  the  place  where 
they  are  born. 

A  case  in  point  is  that  of  an  old  grizzly 
bear,  whose  trail  could  not  be  mistaken  be 
cause  he  had  lost  a  toe  from  his  left  front 
foot.  Every  three  weeks  he  crossed  the  out 
let  of  the  Upper  St.  Mary's  Lake,  wandered 
up  into  the  Red  Eagle  Valley,  swung  round 
northward  along  the  back-bone  of  the 
Rockies  to  the  Swift  Current  Waters,  and 
thence  down  across  the  outlet  again.  Ob- 

194 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

servation  of  other  animals  also  leads  me  to 
believe  that  they  all  have  their  habitual 
rounds.  If  this  is  so,  it  explains  why  it  was 
that  our  deadfalls  held  fewer  and  fewer  prizes 
for  us,  until  finally  three  or  four  days  would 
pass  without  our  finding  even  a  marten  to 
reward  us  for  our  long,  weary  tramps. 

The  days  now  grew  noticeably  longer  and 
warmer,  until  finally  snow-shoeing  was  im 
possible  after  nine  or  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing.  The  warm  sun  turned  the  snow  into 
large,  loose,  water-saturated  grains  which 
would  give  way  every  few  steps  and  let  us 
down  clear  to  the  ground,  often  in  places 
where  the  snow  was  so  deep  that  we  stood, 
so  to  speak,  in  a  greenish  well  from  which 
we  had  to  look  straight  up  to  see  the  sky. 
It  was  very  difficult  to  get  out  of  such  places. 

Toward  the  end  of  our  stay  we  did  most 
of  our  tramping  in  the  early  morning,  when 
the  snow  was  covered  with  so  hard  a  crust 
by  the  night's  frost  that  it  would  hold  us  up 
without  snowshoes. 

'95 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

One  evening  we  heard  the  distant  cry  of 
wild  geese.  That  was  our  signal  for  departure. 
We  made  a  last  round  of  the  deadfalls,  sprung 
each  one  that  was  set,  and  the  next  day  made 
up  two  bundles  of  the  peltries  that  we  were 
to  take  with  us.  There  were  in  all  sixty-one 
marten,  ten  fisher,  seventeen  mink,  five  wol 
verene,  one  mountain-lion,  eight  lynx,  and 
two  otter  skins.  Fortunately,  there  was  little 
weight  in  all  that  number,  and  we  bound 
them  so  compactly  that  there  was  little  bulk. 
A  quantity  of  moose  meat,  cut  into  thin  sheets 
and  dried,  made  up  the  rest  of  our  pack.  Nor 
did  we  forget  the  fire-drill  and  a  small,  hard 
piece  of  birch  wood  that  had  been  seasoning 
by  the  fire  all  the  winter  for  a  drill  base. 

The  goatskin  sleeping-bag  was  too  heavy 
to  take  along;  it  would  have  added  much  to 
our  comfort,  of  course,  but  there  was  now 
no  night  cold  enough  to  be  very  disagreeable 
so  long  as  we  could  have  fire,  and  of  that  we 
were  assured.  However,  Pitamakan  did  not 
intend  that  the  bag  should  be  wasted  ;  almost 

196 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  last  thing  that  he  did  was  to  make  an 
offering  of  it  to  the  sun.  Lashing  the  bundle 
in  a  tree,  he  prayed  that  we  might  survive 
all  perils  by  the  way,  and  soon  reach  the 
lodges  of  our  people. 

At  sundown  we  ate  our  last  meal  in  the 
lodge  and  enjoyed  for  the  last  time  its  cheer 
ful  shelter.  Somehow,  as  we  sat  by  the  fire, 
we  did  not  feel  like  talking.  To  go  away 
and  leave  the  little  home  to  the  elements  and 
the  prowlers  of  the  night  was  like  parting 
forever  from  some  near  and  dear  friend. 

We  waited  several  hours,  until  the  frost 
hardened  the  snow;  then  putting  on  the 
snowshoes  and  slinging  the  packs,  we  started 
away  down  the  valley.  There  was  certainly 
a  lump  in  my  throat  as  I  turned  for  a  last 
look  at  the  lodge,  with  the  smoke  of  its  fire 
curling  up  from  it  and  beckoning  us  back  to 
rest  and  sleep. 

Until  midnight  the  stiffening  crust  occa 
sionally  broke  and  let  us  down ;  but  after  that 
time  it  became  so  hard  that,  taking  off  our 

197 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

snowshoes  and  slinging  them  to  the  packs, 
we  made  remarkable  time  down  the  valley. 

After  passing  the  pipestone  falls,  we 
entered  country  new  to  us,  where  the  valley 
became  much  wider.  Every  mile  or  two  a 
branch  came  into  the  river,  which  we  were 
obliged  to  ford,  for  the  ice  had  gone  out  of 
the  streams.  It  was  no  fun  to  remove  mocca 
sins  and  leggings,  wade  through  the  icy 
water,  and  then  put  them  on  in  the  snow  on 
the  other  side. 

For  several  weeks  avalanches  had  been 
thundering  down  the  mountain-sides  all 
round  us,  and  this  night  they  seemed  more 
frequent  than  ever.  Once  one  tore  its  way  to 
the  valley  just  behind  us.  Not  an  hour  later, 
Pitamakan's  pack-thong  broke,  and  let  his 
bundle  down  into  the  snow.  As  we  stopped 
to  retie  it,  there  came  the  rumbling  of  an 
avalanche,  apparently  right  over  our  heads. 

I  thought  that  it  would  strike  the  valley 
not  far  below  us.  "  Come  !  Get  up  !  "  I 
cried.  "  Let 's  run  back  as  fast  as  we  can  !  " 

198 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  Not  so  !  We  must  run  the  other  way. 
Can't  you  hear  ?  It  is  going  to  strike  either 
where  we  are,  or  close  behind  us,"  Pitamakan 
answered ;  and  grasping  my  arm,  he  tried  to 
make  me  go  forward  with  him. 

"Can't  you  hear  it  there?"  I  shouted, 
taking  hold  of  him  in  my  turn  and  pulling 
the  other  way.  "  It  is  coming  down  right 
where  we  stand,  or  not  far  below  here  ! " 

And  thus  we  stood  while  the  dreadful  noise 
increased,  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  world  was 
being  rent  wide  open.  There  was  a  confusion 
of  thunderous  sound  —  the  grinding  of  rocks 
and  ice,  the  crashing  and  snapping  of  great 
trees.  The  avalanche  came  nearer  with  teriffic 
speed,  until  finally  it  filled  all  the  region  round 
with  such  a  deafening  noise  that  it  was  impos 
sible  even  to  guess  where  it  would  sweep  down 
into  the  valley. 

We  ran  a  few  steps  upstream,  then  as  many 
more  back,  and  finally  stood  trembling,  quite 
uncertain  which  way  to  fly.  But  only  for  a 
moment ;  just  ahead  of  us  the  great  forest 

199 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

trees  began  to  leap  out  and  downward  from 
the  steep  mountain-side,  and  then  the  mass 
of  the  avalanche  burst  into  the  flat  and  piled 
up  a  hundred  feet  deep  before  us — a  dirty 
ridge  of  wrecked  mountain-side  that  ex 
tended  away  across  the  valley  to  the  river. 
There  was  a  last  rumble  and  cracking  of 
branches  as  it  settled,  and  then  all  was  still. 

"You  see  that  I  was  right,"  I  said.  "It 
did  strike  below  us." 

"Yes,  you  heard  better  than  I  did,"  my 
partner  admitted, "  but  that  is  not  what  saved 
us.  I  am  sure  that  the  gods  caused  the  pack- 
thong  to  break  and  stop  us;  otherwise  we 
should  have  been  right  in  the  path  of  the 
slide." 

Re-slinging  our  packs,  we  climbed  the 
rough  mass  of  the  slide,  round  and  over  big 
boulders,  ice  blocks,  and  tree  trunks,  through 
piles  of  brush  and  broken  branches.  At  the 
apex  of  the  heap  Pitamakan  reached  down, 
pulled  something  from  the  earth-stained 
snow,  and  passed  it  to  me.  It  was  the  head 

200 


THE    AVALANCHE    BURST    INTO    THE    FLAT 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  neck  of  a  mountain  goat,  crushed  almost 
flat,  the  flesh  of  which  was  still  warm. 

"  You  see  what  would  have  happened  to 
us  if  my  pack-thong  had  not  broken,"  he 
said  grimly. 

"  It  must  be  that  many  goats  perish  in  this 
way,"  I  remarked. 

"  Yes,  and  also  many  bighorn,"  he  said. 
"  I  have  heard  the  old  hunters  say  that  the 
bears,  when  they  first  come  out  in  the  spring, 
get  their  living  from  these  slides.  They  travel 
from  one  to  another,  and  paw  round  in  search 
of  the  dead  animals  buried  in  them." 

At  daylight  we  entered  an  open  park 
where  we  could  sec  back  toward  the  summit. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  we  had  traveled  a 
long  way  during  the  night,  for  the  mountain 
opposite  our  abandoned  lodge  looked  twenty 
miles  distant.  The  valley  here  was  fully  a 
mile  wide,  and  the  mountains  bordering  it 
were  covered  with  pines  clear  to  the  summit. 
They  were  not  more  than  a  thousand  feet  high, 
and  the  western  rim  of  them  seemed  not  more 

201 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

than  fifteen  miles  away.  We  believed  that 
from  where  they  ended  the  distance  could 
not  be  great  to  the  lake  of  the  Flatheads. 

Down  here  the  snow  was  only  about  four 
feet  deep,  less  than  half  the  depth  of  it  where 
we  had  wintered.  The  air  became  warm  much 
earlier  in  the  morning  than  it  did  up  there. 
Using  the  snowshoes  now,  as  the  crust  was 
getting  weak,  we  kept  going,  although  very 
tired.  During  the  two  hours  that  we  were 
able  to  travel  after  sunrise,  we  passed  great 
numbers  of  elk,  and  not  a  few  moose,  and 
when,  finally,  the  snow  grew  spongy  and 
obliged  us  to  stop  for  the  day,  we  were  plainly 
within  the  deer  range,  for  both  white-tail  and 
mule-deer  were  as  plentiful  as  jack-rabbits 
are  in  certain  parts  of  the  plains. 

We  stopped  for  our  much-needed  rest  on 
a  bare  sandbar  of  the  river,  and  with  bow 
and  drill  started  a  little  fire  and  roasted  some 
dry  meat.  The  sun  shone  warm  there,  and 
after  eating,  we  lay  down  on  the  sand  and 
slept  until  almost  night. 

202 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

Starting  on  again  as  soon  as  the  snow 
crusted,  we  traveled  the  rest  of  the  night 
without  any  trouble,  and  soon  after  day 
break  suddenly  passed  the  snow-line  and 
stepped  into  green  -  sprouting  grass.  The 
summer  birds  had  come,  and  were  singing 
all  round  us.  A  meadow-lark,  on  a  bush 
close  by,  was  especially  tuneful,  and  Pita- 
makan  mocked  it : 

"  Kit-ah-kim  ai-siks-is-to-ki  !  "  (Your  sister 
is  dark-complexioned!)  he  cried  gleefully. 
"  Oh,  no,  little  yellow-breast,  you  make  a 
mistake.  I  have  no  sister." 

We  were  in  the  edge  of  a  fine  prairie 
dotted  with  groves  of  pine  and  cottonwood. 
The  land  sloped  gently  to  the  west.  I  thought 
that  it  could  not  be  far  in  that  direction 
to  the  big  lake,  but  Pitamakan  said  that 
it  was  way  off  to  the  southwest,  perhaps  two 
days'  journey  from  where  we  were.  Sud 
denly  he  fell  on  his  knees  and  began  with 
feverish  haste  to  dig  up  a  slender,  green- 
leaved  plant. 

203 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

"  It  is  camass ! "  he  cried,  holding  it  up 
and  wiping  the  earth  from  the  white,  onion- 
shaped  root.  "  Dig !  Dig  !  See,  there  are 
plenty  of  them  all  round.  Eat  plenty  of 
them.  They  are  good." 

So  they  were;  crisp,  starchy,  and  rather 
sweet.  After  our  winter-long  diet  of  meat, 
they  were  exactly  what  our  appetites  craved 
and  our  systems  needed.  We  made  a  meal 
of  them  right  there.  For  once  hunger  got 
the  better  of  our  caution.  Laying  down  our 
pack  and  snowshoes,  we  dug  up  root  after 
root,  all  the  time  moving  out  into  prairie 
farther  and  farther  from  the  edge  of  the 
timber. 

"  Come  on !  Let 's  get  our  packs  and  hide 
somewhere  for  the  day,"  I  said  finally.  "I 
am  filled  with  these  things  to  the  neck." 

"  Oh,  wait  a  little ;  I  want  a  few  more," 
my  partner  answered. 

Just  then  a  band  of  deer  burst  out  of  a 
cottonwood  grove  about  five  hundred  yards 
to  the  west  of  us,  and  as  we  sat  staring  and 

204 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

wondering  what  had  startled  them,  three 
Indians  came  riding  like  the  wind  round 
one  side  of  the  grove,  and  four  more  ap 
peared  on  the  other  side,  in  swift  pursuit  of 
the  animals. 


CHAPTER  X 

"T^^ON'T  you  move!"  Pitamakan  ex- 

I  claimed. 

-*— ^  He  spoke  just  in  time,  for  I  was 
on  the  point  of  springing  up  and  running  for 
the  timber.  The  game  —  they  were  mule- 
deer,  which  are  not  fleet  runners,  like  the 
white-tail — came  bouncing  awkwardly  to 
ward  us,  while  the  Indians  gained  on  them 
perceptibly.  Never  before  had  I  felt  that  I 
was  a  giant ;  but  as  I  sat  .there  in  the  short 
grass  of  the  open  prairie,  I  felt  as  if  my  body 
was  actually  towering  into  the  sky.  I  instinct 
ively  tried  to  make  myself  of  smaller  size. 
All  my  muscles  quivered  and  contracted  so 
tensely  that  the  feeling  was  painful.  "  Oh, 
come!"  I  cried.  "Can't  you  see  that  they — " 
"Be  still!"  Pitamakan  broke  in.  "The 
wind  is  from  us  to  them.  The  deer  will  soon 
turn.  Our  one  chance  is  to  sit  motionless. 
They  haven't  seen  us  yet." 

206 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

The  deer  came  steadily  toward  us,  jumping 
awkwardly  and  high.  They  were  now  less 
than  four  hundred  yards  away,  and  although 
the  wind  was  increasing,  they  gave  no  sign 
of  having  scented  us. 

"  They  must  turn  soon,"  Pitamakan  said. 
"But  if  they  don't,  and  you  see  that  the 
Indians  are  coming  for  us,  string  your 
bow.  Let  us  fight  our  best  until  our  end 


comes." 


That  had  been  my  thought.  I  had  two  of 
our  five  obsidian-pointed  arrows.  If  worse 
came  to  worst,  I  hoped  that  I  should  be  able 
to  speed  them  swift  and  true.  Now  the  deer 
were  less  than  three  hundred  yards  from  us, 
and  I  gave  up  all  hope  that  they  would  turn. 
To  me  the  Indians  seemed  to  be  staring 
straight  at  us  instead  of  at  the  animals. 

I  had  started  to  reach  for  my  bow  and 
arrows,  which  lay  on  the  ground  beside  me, 
when  the  deer  did  turn,  suddenly  and  sharply 
to  the  right.  The  pursuers,  turning  also, 
almost  at  the  same  time,  gained  considerably 

207 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

on  them.  I  realized  that  we  had  not  been 
discovered. 

The  leading  hunter  now  raised  his  gun 
and  fired.  The  hornless  old  buck  at  the  head 
of  the  band  sharply  shook  his  head,  and 
holding  it  askew  as  if  the  bullet  had  stung 
it,  swerved  to  the  right  again,  directly  away 
from  us.  The  herd  followed  him,  while  the 
hunters  again  made  a  short  cut  toward  them 
and  began  shooting.  Their  backs  were  now 
to  us. 

"Run !  Run  for  the  timber  ! "  my  partner 
commanded ;  and  grabbing  my  bow  and  ar 
rows,  I  followed  him,  faster,  probably,  than 
I  had  ever  run  before.  It  was  a  hundred 
yards  or  more  to  the  timber.  As  we  neared 
it,  I  began  to  hope  that  we  should  get  into 
its  shelter  unseen.  Behind  us  the  hunters 
kept  shooting  at  the  deer,  but  neither  of  us 
took  time  to  look  back  until  we  came  to 
our  packs,  and  paused  to  lift  them  and  the 
snowshoes. 

At  that  very  moment  the  war-cry  of  the 
208 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

enemy  was  raised,  and  we  knew  that  they 
had  discovered  us.  We  looked,  and  saw  that 
they  were  coming  our  way  as  fast  as  their 
horses  could  lope.  And  how  they  did  yell ! 
There  was  menace  in  those  shrill  staccato 
yelps. 

"  We  must  leave  the  furs.  Just  take  your 
snowshoes  and  come  on,"  said  Pitamakan, 
and  I  grabbed  them  up  and  followed  him. 

It  was  only  a  few  yards  back  in  the  timber 
to  the  snow-line.  Upon  reaching  it,  I  threw 
down  my  shoes,  stuck  my  toes  into  the  loops, 
and  was  starting  on  without  fastening  the 
ankle-thongs,  when  my  partner  ordered  me 
to  tie  them  properly.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
my  fingers  had  never  been  so  clumsy. 

We  stepped  up  on  the  snow,  and  found 
that  the  crust  was  still  strong  enough  to  bear 
our  weight,  although  it  cracked  and  gave 
slightly  where  the  centre  of  the  poor  web 
bing  sagged  under  our  feet.  At  the  edge  of 
the  prairie  the  timber  was  scattering;  but 
back  a  short  distance  there  were  several  dense 

209 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

thickets,  and  back  of  them  again  was  the  line 
of  the  heavy  pine  forest.  We  made  for  the 
nearest  thicket,  while  the  yells  of  the  enemy 
sounded  nearer  and  louder  at  every  step  we 
took. 

It  was  easy  to  guess  when  they  came  to  the 
fur  packs,  for  there  was  a  momentary  stop  in 
the  war-cries  as  they  loudly  disputed  over  the 
possession  of  them.  Then,  abandoning  their 
horses,  they  began  shooting  at  us  as  they  ad 
vanced  into  the  snow,  through  which  they 
broke  and  floundered  at  almost  every  step. 

The  advantage  was  now  all  with  us,  pro 
vided  we  were  not  hit.  Once  I  stopped  behind 
a  tree  for  an  instant  and  looked  back.  Three 
of  the  men  had  not  tried  to  come  on  over  the 
snow,  but  standing  at  the  edge  of  it,  loaded 
and  fired  as  fast  as  possible.  The  others  were 
doing  their  best  to  advance  over  the  crust,  and 
had  our  plight  not  been  so  desperate,  I  should 
have  laughed  to  see  them.  They  stepped  gin 
gerly,  teetering  along  with  open  mouths  and 
arms  outspread,  and  sometimes  the  crust 

2IO 


I    GRABBED   THEM    UP    AND    FOLLOWED    HIM 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

would  bear  their  weight  for  three  or  four 
paces,  and  so  increase  their  confidence  that 
they  would  quicken  their  speed,  only  to  break 
through  and  sink  waist-deep. 

I  pushed  a  flap  of  my  old  capote  out  from 
the  tree  as  far  as  I  could  with  the  bow,  in  the 
hope  of  drawing  their  fire;  but,  finding  that 
they  were  not  to  be  caught  by  any  such  ruse, 
I  hurried  on.  Then  several  bullets  came  so 
close  to  me  that  I  could  feel  the  wind  from 
them  ;  one  struck  a  tree  which  I  was  passing, 
and  flicked  off  bits  of  bark,  which  stung  my 
left  cheek  and  cut  the  lobe  of  my  left  ear. 
When  the  enemy  saw  me  raise  my  hand  to 
my  face,  they  yelled  with  triumph,  and  Pita- 
makan  turned  to  see  what  had  happened. 

"  Go  on !  It  is  nothing  !  "  I  called  out. 

At  that  instant  another  shot  was  fired,  and 
I  thought  that  I  heard  my  partner  give  a  little 
cry  of  pain  ;  but  he  did  not  flinch,  and  con 
tinued  on  as  rapidly  as  before.  When  I  came 
where  he  had  been,  however,  I  saw  that  his 
trail  was  bloody,  and  I  feared  the  worst,  for 

211 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  well  knew  that  even  with  a  death-wound 
he  would  keep  on  bravely  to  the  very  end. 
The  rest  of  the  run  to  the  thicket  was  like 
some  terrible  dream  to  me,  for  I  expected 
that  every  step  he  made  would  be  his  last. 
But  finally  he  passed  into  the  screen  of  young 
evergreens,  and  a  moment  later  I  was  beside 
him,  asking  how  badly  he  was  hurt. 

"  It  is  only  only  a  flesh-wound  here,"  he 
answered,  gripping  the  inner  part  of  his  left 
thigh.  "  Come  on,  we  mustn't  stop." 

As  the  enemy  could  no  longer  see  us,  we 
made  our  way  to  the  line  of  big  timber  with 
out  fear  of  their  bullets.  They  gave  a  few 
last  yells  as  we  went  into  the  thicket,  and 
shouted  some  words  at  us,  which  of  course 
we  could  not  understand.  And  then  all  was 
still. 

Without  a  word,  Pitamakan  went  on  and 
on  up  the  steep  mountain-side,  and  I  sadly 
followed  him.  Soon,  coming  to  an  opening 
in  the  timber,  we  stepped  out  into  it,  until 
we  could  get  a  good  view  of  the  plain  below. 

212 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

The  Indians  were  riding  back  to  where  they 
had  chased  the  deer.  Soon  they  dismounted 
and  began  skinning  two  that  they  had  killed. 
We  removed  our  snowshoes  and  sat  down  on 
them.  Pitamakan  let  down  his  legging  and 
washed  his  wound  with  snow ;  the  bullet  had 
split  open  the  skin  for  a  length  of  several 
inches,  but  fortunately,  had  not  torn  the 
muscles.  As  soon  as  the  wound  was  washed 
and  dry,  I  went  over  to  a  balsam  fir  and  gath 
ered  the  contents  of  three  or  four  blisters, 
which  he  smeared  all  over  the  raw  place.  In 
a  few  minutes  he  said  that  the  pungent,  sticky 
stuff  had  stopped  the  burning  of  the  wound. 

We  were  two  sad  boys  that  morning.  The 
loss  of  the  furs,  for  which  we  had  worked 
so  hard  all  winter,  was  not  easy  to  bear. 
Every  few  minutes  Pitamakan  would  cry  out 
to  his  gods  to  punish  the  thieves,  and  my 
heart  was  as  sore  against  them  as  his.  With 
the  fur  packs  we  had  lost  also  our  fire-drill 
and  socket  piece. 

"But  that  doesn't  matter,"  Pitamakan 
213 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

said.  "  We  have  good  bows  and  can  make  a 
drill  at  any  time.  Perhaps  we  shall  never 
again  have  any  use  for  one ! " 

"  How  so  ?  Are  we  never  to  eat  again  ? 
Shall  we  not  need  fire  of  nights  to  keep  us 
warm?"  I  asked. 

"  Maybe  we  shall  and  maybe  not,"  Pita- 
makan  replied.  "It  is  not  likely  that  those 
hunters  will  go  home  without  trying  to  take 
our  scalps  with  them ;  we  '11  soon  know  about 
that. 

We  watched  the  men  in  silence  for  some 
little  time.  Four  of  them  were  round  one 
deer,  and  three  were  at  work  skinning  the 
other.  Soon,  however,  one  man  left  each 
group  and  began  cutting  willows.  Soon  after 
ward  we  saw  that  those  remaining  had  got 
the  deer  hides  off  and  were  cutting  them  into 
strips. 

"  I  thought  that  they  would  do  that,"  said 
my  partner.  "  They  are  going  to  make  snow- 
shoes  and  follow  us.  Hurry  now,  and  fasten 
on  your  shoes  !  " 

214 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  did  as  I  was  told  and  asked  no  questions. 
Pitamakan  limped  badly  when  he  started  off, 
but  made  light  of  his  lameness  and  insisted 
that  he  felt  no  pain.  By  this  time  the  sun 
was  fast  weakening  the  crust ;  in  a  short  time 
neither  we  nor  our  enemy  would  be  able  to 
travel,  and  I  told  my  partner  that  while  they 
were  making  their  shoes,  we  ought  to  get  so 
far  ahead  that  they  never  would  be  able  to 
overtake  us. 

"They  are  seven,  we  only  two,"  he  said. 
"  They  will  break  trail  by  turns  when  the 
snow  gets  soft.  Our  chance  to  escape  is  to  get 
back  to  the  dry  prairie  while  they  are  climb 
ing  the  mountain  on  our  trail." 

That  was  a  plan  that  had  never  entered 
my  head,  but  I  instantly  saw  its  possibilities. 
Left  to  my  own  resources,  I  should  only  have 
struggled  on  and  on  into  the  mountains, 
eventually  to  be  captured. 

For  an  hour  or  more,  just  as  long  as  the 
crust  would  hold,  we  kept  along  the  side  of 
the  mountain  parallel  with  the  river ;  then, 

215 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

when  the  crust  at  last  broke  with  us  at  every 
step,  we  took  off  our  snowshoes  and  flound 
ered  down  the  tremendously  steep  slope  to 
the  stream,  and  turning  with  it,  walked  and 
ran  along  the  gravelly  and  sandy  shore. 

So,  not  later  than  mid-afternoon,  we  came 
again  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  walk 
ing  to  the  edge  of  the  timber  bordering  the 
river,  looked  out  on  the  prairie  from  which 
we  had  been  driven  in  the  morning. 

"Sum-is!  Sum-is!"  Pitamakan cried, point 
ing  away  south  to  the  place  of  the  deer  chase. 

"  I-kit-si-kum  !  Sap-un-is-tsim  ! ' '  (Seven  ! 
The  whole  number!)  I  exclaimed.  The 
horses  of  the  enemy  were  picketed  out  there 
and  quietly  grazing,  but  not  one  of  the  hunt 
ers  was  to  be  seen.  It  seemed  too  good  to  be 
true. 

We  stood  still  for  some  time,  while  we 
searched  the  prairie  and  the  mountain-side 
for  sign  of  the  enemy. 

"  They  seem  all  to  have  taken  our  trail," 
said  Pitamakan,  at  last,  "  and  maybe  that  is 

216 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  way  of  it.  If  one  has  remained  to  watch 
the  horses,  he  must  be  lying  in  that  little 
pine  grove  near  them.  Let 's  go  down  the 
river  a  little  farther,  then  swing  round  and 
sneak  into  the  grove  from  the  other  side." 

We  hurried  on  in  the  river-bottom  for 
half  a  mile,  and  then  swung  out  across  the 
open  ground.  Our  hearts  throbbed  with 
hope,  and  with  fear,  too,  as  we  approached 
the  one  place  where  a  guard  might  be  sta 
tioned. 

Stealing  into  the  little  grove  as  silently  as 
shadows,  we  moved  through  it  so  slowly  that 
a  red  squirrel  digging  in  the  needle-covered 
earth  near  by  never  noted  our  passing.  There 
was  not  more  than  an  acre  of  the  young  trees, 
and  they  covered  a  space  twice  as  long  as 
wide,  so  we  were  able  to  see  every  foot  of  it 
as  we  passed  along.  When  we  were  nearing 
the  farther  end,  a  coyote  gave  us  a  terrible 
scare ;  as  he  rose  up  behind  a  thin  screen  of 
low  boughs,  we  could  not  see  at  first  just 
what  it  was. 

217 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

I  have  heard  of  people  turning  cold  from 
fear ;  maybe  they  do,  but  fear  does  not  affect 
me  in  that  way.  A  flash  of  heat  swept  through 
me ;  my  mouth  grew  dry.  My  sense  of  be 
ing  perfectly  helpless,  my  expectation  that  a 
bullet  would  come  tearing  into  me,  was  some 
thing  that  I  shall  never  forget. 

This  time  the  suspense  was  short ;  the  coy 
ote  walked  boldly  off  in  the  direction  in 
which  we  were  going,  and  since  the  wind 
was  in  our  faces,  we  instantly  realized  that 
no  man  was  concealed  out  there  ahead  of  him. 
Still,  Pitamakan  was  cautious  and,  in  spite 
of  my  urgent  signs,  kept  on  as  stealthily  as 
before.  But  when  we  came  to  the  edge  of 
the  grove,  we  saw  the  coyote  was  walking 
jauntily  round  among  the  feeding  horses. 

Off  to  the  right,  near  one  of  the  deer  car 
casses,  lay  the  hunters'  saddles,  saddle-blankets 
and  other  stuff.  We  found  also  a  litter  of 
willow  cuttings  and  short  strips  of  deer  hide 
where  the  hunters  had  made  their  snowshoes. 
The  saddles  were  all  home-made,  but  better 

218 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

than  none.  We  each  selected  one  and  the 
best  of  the  blankets,  and  began  saddling  the 
two  most  sturdy  and  swift-looking  of  the  seven 
animals.  That  done,  we  turned  the  remain 
ing  five  loose,  after  removing  their  lariats 
and  throwing  them  away.  Then  we  got  into 
the  saddle  and  started  to  gather  up  the  loose 
stock,  when  I  suddenly  thought  of  some 
thing  that  we  had  entirely  forgotten  in  our 
excitement. 

"  Pitamakan !  Our  furs !  Where  can  they 
be?"  I  asked. 

"  There !  There  !  "  he  answered,  pointing 
to  where  the  other  deer  carcass  lay. 

And  sure  enough,  there  the  two  packs 
were,  just  as  we  had  bound  them. 

Here  was  more  luck !  We  lost  no  time  in 
riding  over  to  the  place  and  picking  them 
up ;  then,  driving  the  other  horses  ahead  of 
us,  we  rode  away  to  the  southwest  as  fast  as 
possible.  Somewhere  on  the  big,  timbered 
mountain  behind  us,  the  enemy  were  worm 
ing  along  on  our  trail;  or,  what  is  more 

219 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

likely,  completely  exhausted  from  struggling 
in  the  soft  snow,  they  were  waiting  for  the 
night  freeze,  to  enable  them  to  go  on. 

The  loose  horses  trotted  ahead  of  us  most 
willingly — suspiciously  so;  and  in  the  course 
of  half  an  hour,  on  our  coming  to  a  strip  of 
timber,  the  reason  for  such  unusual  conduct 
was  plain.  Here  was  a  broad,  hard  trail  that 
led,  no  doubt,  directly  to  the  camp  which  they 
had  come  from  in  the  morning.  Of  course 
they  were  willing  to  be  driven  back  to  their 
mates !  And  now,  as  we  pushed  along  this 
highway,  one  and  another  of  them  began  to 
nicker,  a  sure  sign  that  the  camp  was  not  far 
distant. 

There  were  only  three  or  four  hundred 
yards  of  the  timber,  and  then  another  big 
prairie;  and  at  the  farther  end  of  this,  a 
couple  of  miles  away,  smoke  was  rising  from 
another  patch  of  timber,  near  which  many 
horses  were  grazing. 

"  There !  There  is  the  camp  of  the  enemy ! " 
Pitamakan  cried.  "  Already  they  may  have 

120 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

seen  us !  Let 's  get  back  into  the  timber  as 
quick  as  we  can." 

That  was  not  easy  to  do ;  the  loose  stock 
wanted  to  keep  right  on  toward  their  mates, 
and  it  required  hard  riding  to  head  them  off 
and  turn  them  back.  And  then  when  we  did 
accomplish  it,  they  were  very  restless ;  it  was 
only  by  the  greatest  vigilance  that  we  kept 
them  from  breaking  back. 

While  the  sun  slowly  sank  toward  the 
horizon,  we  waited  in  suspense,  for  there 
was  a  chance  that  the  party  of  seven,  or  some 
other  party,  might  appear  at  any  moment. 
The  thought  that,  after  our  great  success  of 
the  day,  we  might  lose  everything,  and  our 
lives  also,  kept  us  keyed  up  to  an  intense 
pitch  of  excitement. 

Toward  sunset  there  was  a  commotion 
among  the  horse  herds  at  the  farther  end  of 
the  prairie,  and  two  riders  came  loping 
straight  toward  us.  At  first  we  were  not 
much  alarmed,  for  we  thought  that  they 
were  only  looking  for  some  stray  animal  from 

221 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

the  bands ;  but  they  kept  coming  straight  on, 
looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left, 
and  it  was  soon  plain,  either  that  they  had 
seen  us  and  were  going  to  have  a  look  at  our 
outfit,  or  that  they  were  going  to  take  the 
trail  through  the  timber,  in  search,  probably, 
of  the  missing  hunters  whose  horses  we  had 
rounded  up.  There  was  but  one  thing  for 
us  to  do  —  hustle  the  animals  as  far  from  the 
trail  as  possible;  and  going  at  it  in  a  whirl 
of  excitement,  we  hissed  at  them,  flicked 
them  with  our  bridle-ropes,  and  struck  them 
with  dead  limbs  that  we  snatched  from  the 
trees. 

Never  were  horses  so  obstinate ;  they  simply 
ducked  their  heads  to  the  missiles  and  milled 
round  and  round  among  the  trees  and  under 
brush.  We  had  got  them  no  more  than  a 
bow-shot  away  from  the  trail,  when,  looking 
out  into  the  open,  we  saw  that  the  riders  had 
almost  reached  the  thin  belt  of  timber  that 
screened  us. 

"  Get  off  your  horse  and  try  to  hold  him 

222 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

still  there  behind  that  brush  !  "  my  partner 
called  out ;  and  off  I  slid  and  grasped  the 
animal  by  the  nose  and  one  ear. 

,  We  could  plainly  hear  now  the  thud  of  the 
oncoming  horses.  If  one  of  the  seven  animals 
we  had  should  nicker,  we  were  lost.  Presently 
the  two  riders  entered  the  timber,  and  we 
could  see  them  plainly  as  they  sped  along  the 
trail.  Tall,  heavy  men  they  were,  with  long, 
flying  hair  and  grim  faces.  Each  carried  a 
long  gun. 

When  they  came  in  sight,  my  animal 
pricked  up  his  ears  and  began  to  prance  and 
toss  his  head,  but  I  hung  to  him  desperately, 
although  I  was  hoisted  more  than  once  clear 
off  the  ground.  As  I  swung  and  bobbed  in 
the  air,  I  got  flashing  glimpses  of  the  enemy, 
of  Pitamakan  struggling  with  his  animal,  and 
of  the  loose  stock  looking  curiously  at  the 
scene.  I  expected  every  instant  that  one  of 
them  would  whinny,  but  not  one  of  them 
did] 

The  two  men  passed  swiftly  along  the  trail 
223 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

out  of  sight,  and  the  beat  of  their  horses' 
hoofs  died  slowly  away.  Then  once  more 
we  took  hope. 

The  sun  was  down  and  darkness  was  steal 
ing  over  the  land.  Faint  from  this  last  nar 
row  escape,  we  got  into  the  saddle  once 
more,  and  leaving  the  loose  stock  to  stray 
whither  they  would,  rode  out  into  the  open 
and  took  a  course  down  the  prairie  that 
would  leave  the  big  camp  far  to  our  right. 
Passing  it  a  little  later,  we  could  see  the  dim, 
yellow  glow  of  the  lodge  fires,  and  hear  the 
people  singing,  and  the  dogs  barking  now 
and  then  in  answer  to  the  mocking  yelps  of 
the  coyotes. 

We  traveled  on  through  the  night  in  a 
partly  timbered  country,  and,  by  God's  mercy, 
safely  forded  some  streams  that  were  raging 
spring  torrents.  It  was  between  midnight  and 
dawn  that  we  finally  gave  out,  and,  picketing 
our  animals,  lay  down  and  slept.  But  the  first 
peep  of  the  sun  roused  us.  Staggering  to  our 
feet,  stiff  and  sore,  we  saddled,  and  rode  on 

224 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

again  in  a  half  stupor.  It  was  past  noon 
when,  from  the  edge  of  a  sloping  plain,  we 
saw  the  big  lake  of  the  Flatheads.  Pitamakan 
knew  the  place  at  once. 

"Down  there  by  the  shore  was  the  big 
camp  the  time  we  were  here,"  he  said,  "and 
over  there  by  the  side  of  that  little  river  runs 
the  trail  to  buffalo  land/' 

We  came  to  it  a  little  later,  a  broad,  well- 
worn  trail  that  had  been  used  for  countless 
years  for  summer  travel  by  the  mountain 
tribes.  There  were  no  tracks  in  it  now  save 
those  of  the  wolf  and  the  deer.  Dismounting 
beside  it  to  rest  the  horses,  we  took  a  few  bites 
of  dry  meat,  while  they  greedily  cropped  the 
tender  spring  grass. 

We  did  not  remain  there  long.  Behind  us 
stretched  the  trail  of  our  horses,  plain  enough 
in  the  young  green  grass,  a  trail  that  could  be 
easily  followed  from  where  we  had  first  taken 
the  animals.  We  went  on  all  through  the 
afternoon  eastward  into  the  mountains.  Here 
the  mountains  were  low,  and  in  the  still  lower 

225 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

pass  there  was  no  snow  to  block  us.  Indeed, 
Two  Medicine  Pass  is  so  low  that  you  cannot 
tell  when  you  pass  the  summit  except  by  the 
changed  course  of  the  streamlets. 

Late  the  next  afternoon  we  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  great  plains,  stretching  green 
from  the  foot  of  the  mountains  away  east 
ward  to  the  far  horizon ;  and  at  sight  of  them 
we  both  shouted,  and  Pitamakan  gave  thanks 
to  his  gods.  Down  at  the  foot  of  the  moun 
tains  we  saw  a  little  later  four  buffalo  bulls, 
and  gave  greeting  to  them  as  if  they  were  our 
brothers.  But  not  appreciating  our  feelings, 
they  ran  lumbering  away. 

Two  days  afterward  we  came  to  the  edge 
of  the  hill  overlooking  Fort  Benton  and  the 
Missouri,  our  stream  of  streams.  The  sight 
of  it,  and  of  our  own  people  walking  here 
and  there  outside  the  fort  and  along  the 
river,  brought  tears  to  our  eyes  and  great  joy 
and  peace  to  our  hearts. 

We  urged  our  weary  horses  down  the  hill 
and  across  the  bottom.  An  Indian  boy,  hunt- 

226 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

ing  horses,  met  us  while  we  were  yet  some  dis 
tance  out,  gave  one  look  at  our  faces,  and  fled 
straight  to  the  Blackfeet  camp  by  the  fort. 

The  people  instantly  poured  out  of  the 
lodges  and  came  running  to  greet  us.  Sur 
rounded  by  several  hundred  of  them,  all 
talking  at  once  and  asking  a  thousand  ques 
tions,  we  rode  into  the  great  courtyard. 
There,  foremost  of  the  company  folk  who 
came  out  to  see  what  was  the  cause  of  all 
the  noise,  were  my  uncle  and  his  wife. 

They  fairly  tore  me  from  my  horse,  smoth 
ered  and  crushed  me  with  kisses  and  embraces, 
and  were  for  leading  me  straight  to  our  quar 
ters;  but  I  would  not  budge  an  inch  until  I 
had  secured  my  precious  pack  of  furs  from  the 
saddle  and  had  given  the  worn  animal  into 
the  keeping  of  one  of  Pitamakan's  relatives. 

By  that  time  the  factor  himself  had  come 
from  his  office,  and  I  had  then  and  there  to 
tell  the  story  of  our  winter  and  our  hardships 
in  the  great  mountains.  How  the  people 
hung  upon  my  words,  how  they  applauded 

227 


With  the  Indians  in  the  Rockies 

and  cheered !  Without  doubt  those  were  the 
proudest  moments  of  my  life.  For  a  mere 
boy  to  hold  those  seasoned  old  voyageurs  and 
plainsmen  spellbound  was  something  of  a 
feat,  you  may  be  sure. 

But  at  last  it  was  all  over,  and  once  more  I 
entered  our  little  house  and  sat  down  on  my 
own  soft  couch  of  buffalo-robes.  As  the  even 
ing  was  chilly,  a  cheerful  fire  was  blazing  in 
the  hearth.  Tsis-tsak-ki  bustled  round,  and 
while  cooking  the  supper,  managed  to  get  out 
clean  clothes  for  me,  and  get  ready  a  tub  of 
water,  soap,  and  towels.  Never  before  had  I 
seen  my  Uncle  Wesley  so  excited ;  he  could 
not  sit  still.  Every  few  moments  he  would 
come  over  and  pinch  my  arm,  or  slap  me  on 
my  back,  just  to  make  sure,  as  he  explained, 
that  I  was  really  with  them  once  more. 

So  ended  my  first  great  adventure  on  the 
frontier  that  was,  and  is  no  more^ 


THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .   A 


m?  QR  CHANTS 

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